Dreams of War
by NerdyMischief
Summary: 5 years after Gaea. A demigod with a mouth. Another one in a trench-coat. Another one who couldn't care less. All three necessary to prevent a new war between the Greeks and the Romans. A tale as old as time. And a few old faces too. Bittersweet? Maybe. Strange? Definitely.
1. A Night To Remember

_**Hey guys! This is going to be my first ever fanfic set in the world of Percy Jackson. It's going to be mainly OC's with some cameos from beloved characters. Hope you enjoy!**_

 _ **I do not own any characters from PJO or HOO. All those belong to Rick Riordan.**_

* * *

" _Whoaaa_. Everybody just calm dow —" A glass mug is thrown straight at my face, then a chair, then a table and some spoons

"The _hell_ , man?! Can't we just —" I duck, "talk about —" Duck again, " this —" Duck _again_ , "for a minute!?"

Goose.

The guy grunts. "You're not getting outta this one, _Graves._ "

"What are you gonna do? Kill me?" I chuckle. " _Hah_ , I'd like to see you try."

Thinking about it now, probably not the best idea but since when did I have any good ideas? I just challenged a guy who beats people for a living. He swings right at me with his meaty hand. I would've spent 6 months in a hospital if I hadn't reacted in time. He had the size and power of a rhino but the speed of a sloth, so I manage to swiftly maneuver through all of his punches. I see an opening.

"How about some of _this_!"

I strike him right across the jaw, feeling victorious but he didn't even flinch. In fact, I think it hurt me more then it hurt him. Blood rushes to his face, I can practically see his veins bulging from his forehead. _Shit._

I gulp. "Ah- _ha_ , uh... _sorry_...?" Pathetic.

And the next thing I know, I'm outside, face-first on the pavement.

"The _NEXT TIME_ you come back, you won't be on the _GROUND_. You'll be _IN IT_." The door slams shut.

Well. I can add _that_ to the list of bars I've been kicked out of. Probably bar number 100. Maybe 101.

A couple of times were because of the fact that they found out I was _18_ — not 21. But the rest was just a Series of Unfortunate Events of me being thrown out, punched out, kicked out and rolled out (don't ask). I stand up and gather my bearings. Probably should get back home. I start walking then notice something move in the corner of my eye. Shadows moving through the alleyways. It was **one** in the morning. No one should be out and about in the streets — then again, this _is_ a big city.

I keep walking, but the shadows are still lurking, following me, and — wait, is that? ... _Breathing_? But when I look, there's nothing there.

Just keep going. Just keep _going_.

Then a huge, dark, lumbering figure is standing over me, its body blocking out any light behind it. I thought the guy at the bar as big but _this_ was the tallest person I'd ever seen. I wonder if they're in the Guinness World record books. That's a missed marketing opportunity right there.

"Um... _wow_ , you're big," I say.

In the dark, all I can hear is a deep rumbling voice.

"Half-blood flesh. _P_ _erfect._ "

It begin to sniff me, as if trying to decide whether I would taste good or not. Half-blood? The _crap_ does that mean? But before I can ask, the figure grabs me with its door-sized hand and brings me closer to its face.

 **Weird**. It only has one eye.

" _Hey_. Let go of me!" I try to wriggle out of its grasp, but no cigar. He has me in a death grip.

"I haven't had one of _your_ kind in a while", it says. "You'll make a good meal."

I didn't really like the thought of being anybody's **meal**.

It holds me over it's open mouth. Not good, not good, _definitely_ not good.

I resist, trying to kick and punch the monster but it does nothing and it _treats_ me like nothing. Then the monster's grip loosens and I **drop** to the floor, which wouldn't've hurt if the guy wasn't 20 feet tall. Doubled-over in pain, but still trying to see what's going on, I look up and suddenly — chains. Glowing, _bronze_ chains are thrown around the monster. And a voice says:

" _Beat_ it, cyclops."

Cyclops? What the _heck?_

I turn to look and a man stands behind me. Wearing a trench coat, of all things. There's a deck of cards in his hands and he looks like a private eye straight from the 1940s ( _Casablanca_ , 1942, thank you Trivia Night 2014). And there was another guy next to him with — wait… _**donkey**_ legs?

The cyclops bellows. "Get these chains _OFF_ me!"

He snorts. "How about... _no_."

In a fit of rage, the cyclops breaks from his chains, and goes straight for the 40s investigator. He dodges out of the way and pulls out two knives from his trench coat, one in each hand. He throws one of them at the cyclops' shoulder and slashes its thigh with the other. The cyclops roars in pain but, after the assault, is _still_ standing. I can't wait any longer. Confused, concussed, and _angry_ , I grab the nearest thing, a pipe, and thro it at the back of his head.

A great idea, if my goal was to piss him off. I swear my only talent is pissing people off.

The cyclops swats away his target and turns towards me. He picks me up with his hands and brings me closer to his terrible breath.

"Now you're **mine**."

I panic. Reality hits me. The one guy who stood a chance with this thing is on the ground, and his donkey friend was nowhere to be seen. Out of pure instinct, I grab the knife stuck in the monster's shoulder and slam it into its eye. I fall to the ground and the cyclops was gone. Just like that, _poof_ , he was nowhere to be seen. The only thing left remaining was a pile of dust on the ground.

I get up on my feet, unable to contemplate what just happened.

"What the _HELL_ is going on —" I'm swaying and I think I really do have a concussion this time. I turn to Mr Trenchcoat. "Dude, I am _freaking_ out — God, I should be on medication — did I really drink that much? Drinking does kill, man — _Jesus_ —"

I'd just been attacked by a cyclops. A _freaking_ CYCLOPS.

Mr 1940s Trenchcoat walks towards me. Now that I have a better look at him, he actually looks my age, or maybe a little older. He's Asian, and has short black hair with a striking silver fringe slicked up. "Hey, hey," he says, "just calm down. You're safe now."

He said that like I'd just been stung by a bee and not almost eaten by a 20 foot tall one-eyed freak. Then his friend pops out from behind a dumpster - and, yes, he still had donkey legs.

"What, you're —? You're half-donkey?"

I am officially losing my mind.

"Listen," the man intervenes, "I'll explain this later, but right now we have to move. That was just _one_ , there's gonna be more. And trust me when I say, it'll be worse than a cyclops."

"Oh. Okay." I take a deep breath. " _Okay, okay, okay_..."

"I'm Clint, by the way. Clint Asher. You?"

I clear my throat, but I don't sound as cool as I want to. "... _Jet_."

* * *

 _ **Clint**_

Well, we found our demigod. Now we just need to get back to camp. But I have to be careful. There are still monsters lurking about.

I pull out a card from the deck, concentrate, and whisper the words: _skiá ichnón_. The card disappears, and a purple aura begins to glow around the three of us.

"This should keep us silent from any monsters trying to sense us," I explain. "But we're still completely visible to them."

We swoop through alleyways and curve around buildings, trying our best to stay undetected. Sayleb, our searcher, was just tagging along. He's not that experienced, so Chiron insisted that I go with him.

It wasn't _all_ breezy, though. When is it ever? We encountered some monsters along the way. Just the occasional spider, or harpie. We did encounter a basilisk though, and that wasn't fun. Still, nothing my knives couldn't handle.

To my surprise, however, Jet was extremely quiet throughout the whole thing. Which as strange because from what I could tell of his early ramble, he had a mouth. Leather jacket, black jeans, messy brown hair and a pretty punchable face now that I think about it. But he took out a cyclops so I wasn't complaining.

"So, what is this all about?" Jet finally says.

"Not now," I reply. "Like I said. Later."

"Uh...Clint? It's a left from here."

"Thanks, Sayleb."

It took awhile but we finally manage to reach the borders of camp.

I see Jet look up at the sign. "Camp... _Half-Blood_?" I can pretty much hear Jet's brain trying to connect all the pieces. Guessing that the coast was clear, it was probably time we explain. "Okay. This is gonna sound crazy...but you're a demigod. You know what that is? It means that -"

"I'm the son of a god."

I blink. "Yes. And I'm a demigod too. My mom is Hecate, goddess of —"

"Magic and witchcraft."

Woah. _Smart_ guy. By now, I half expected him to faint and fall to the ground. But he's acting pretty calm about this.

"This was a subject in high-school," Jet adds, "the only one I was really interested in." A pause. "Lemme guess. Camp Half-Blood is some sort of 'Charles Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters' kind of thing?"

Sayleb coughs. I completely forgot he was still here. "Actually...yeah. When you put it like that..."

"And you're a… hmmm… what was it? A satyr." Jet points.

"That's right."

"Ah. Sorry, dude, I legit thought you were a donkey or something."

Colour me surprised. This dude didn't seemed phased by any of this, _at all._ He was probably freaking out on the inside but was hiding it pretty well. Judging from his next response he was probably reading my mind.

"I'm not gonna lie. This is the weirdest, most _crazy_ experience I've ever had. I'm still trying to recover but...I've learned that this world is a much bigger place than you think."

"Fair enough," I reply. "Come on, let's go."

* * *

 ** _There you go, my first chapter!_**

 ** _I'll be making more and try to update as soon as possible._**

 ** _Give me some feedback and tell me what you think :)._**


	2. Another Terrible Day

_**BROOKE**_

" _ **WAKE UP!"**_

I scream. I wake up to the sound of a voice, yelling at me. I was in my cabin having a peaceful sleep until the gods decided it was best to disturb it. I focus my vision to see someone standing at the foot of my bed. It's my brother — well half-brother.

I dig my face into my pillow. "What do you want Clarence?" I groan.

"Its 3:00..." He says calmly, "in the AFTERNOON." Nevermind, "I didn't even know it was possible to sleep in that long!"

Gods. 3 pm? _Already_? Wow, I guess that's what practicing 'Flight of The Bumblebee' by Nikolai Rimskey-Korsakov (yeah I'm a music nerd) for a whole night does to you.

"You were passed out on the bed with all your music sheets," he says "you're lucky that we're nice enough to clean everything up for you."

"Aw...that's so sweet." I reply sarcastically but Clarence didn't seem to notice.

"I honestly don't know what you would do without me." He then turns to the door and leaves. Leaving me the only one left in the Cabin.

I sigh. Another terrible day in Camp Half-Blood. I wonder what _wonderful_ things the gods have in store for us today.

I get dressed, brush my teeth, wash my face and put on my signature denim jacket. I go outside and...yep just as I'd left it.

Connor pranking the other kids, Aphrodite cabin arguing about the best make-up techniques (makes me wanna vomit), Diana trying to pick a fight and the hephaestus kids crashing drones into the Big House. Just another _terrible_ day. But that's strange. No Clint. He's _always_ somewhere on campus, usually explaining to the Apollo kids (my peeps) that pulling a rabbit out of a hat isn't really magic. I decide to ask his brother, Oscar, if he knows his whereabouts.

I walk around camp trying to find him. It took a while but then I see him talking with the rest of the Hecate cabin. I didn't know him that well because I've only ever met him when he was with Clint.

I call out his name and a 17 year old K-pop star-looking boy turns to face me.

"Hey Oscar, you seen Clint around?"

"Oh Clint? He had to help Sayleb search for demigods. Chiron forced him too." He said that with a dumb smirk as if the idea was amusing.

"Thanks." I reply.

"Oh...yeah — sure, no problem." I started to walk away but he continued speaking. "Hey, um... do you... wanna...never mind. Uh — _adios_!" Adios?

I have never seen anyone run that fast in my life. Also, was it me or was he - blushing? _Nah_ , probably my imagination.

Well, I have nothing else to do so I might as well check on Chiron at the Big House.

As I was walking towards it I notice that Chiron is talking to someone on the deck. Someone I haven't seen before. A girl, with blonde hair. The closer I got I suddenly realise it wasn't just any girl. It was Annabeth Chase. _The_ Annabeth Chase. Saviour of Olympus, retriever of the Athena Parthenos, _one_ of the seven demigods that defeated Gaea in the last war. What is she doing here? Shouldn't she be in New Rome?

I hear some of the conversation they were having, only managing to catch a few words.

"Why?...Alliance...Civil-War... Is it Octavian?" But as soon as they noticed me they stopped.

"Ah... Miss Avondale, what brings you here?" Chiron said, he looks on edge as if any moment a monster was gonna jump out and kill us all.

I began to speak. "I had nothing else to do. So...I came here," I answered. "Heard you sent Clint with Sayleb to search for demigods." It took him a while to respond. He _clearly_ had his mind on other things.

"Ah yes," he says, finally answering my question. "As you know Sayleb is not that experienced with the outside world so I sent Clint to uh… hold his hand".

"Oh okay." I could tell he wasn't in the mood to answer any more questions.

I glance at Annabeth who wasn't really paying attention, more like waiting for me to leave.

"What brings you to Camp?" I blurted out. _Gods,_ what was I thinking? I just asked this — this — _hero,_ a question that's probably none of my business

She spoke, not even making eye-contact. "Just decided to visit, catch up with some old friends." _Great_ , she hates me.

This was getting too awkward. "Well, I uh..." I clear my throat. "love your work." Stupid, why did you say that? "Saving Olympus and all, ah-ha..." Dumb,dumb,dumb. "I'm just going to uh... I'm just gonna go." And just like that I left the scene. Smooth Brooke, _real_ smooth.

Then the moment they notice that I was out of earshot, they went back to their conversation. I was curious. I wonder what they're talking about? I decide to eavesdrop.

* * *

When I was sure that they couldn't see me, I circle around the big house and hid behind a bush near the deck, just close enough to hear what there saying.

"They can't be serious Annabeth! Don't you know how much chaos that would cause? A Civil-War between the Greeks and Romans would be a catastrophic event!"

Annabeth took in a deep breath. "I know Chiron but there are romans out there that really don't like the idea of getting cuddly with greeks and possibly vice versa."

Chiron grimaced.

She continued. "When Percy and I were in New Rome, studying. We overheard some of the centurions talking about ' _Restoring Rome to its former glory'_."

"Does Reyna know about this?" Chiron asked.

"No. Not yet. We decided it was best to keep this as secretive as possible." She says. "If there are traitors on both sides, our trust is very limited. Percy and I decided that he should be in New Rome to learn more whilst I visit the camp doing the same."

Chiron was speechless, he didn't say a _word_. After a long silence, the first thing that came out of his mouth was a chuckle.

"Ah... Annabeth. Even after all you have been threw and the new life you have started." He smiled like a proud father. "You and Percy are still trying to save the world."

"What can I say Chiron?" She grins. "It's what you taught us to do."

I decide that it's time to leave. So I got out of the bush and started walking back to my cabin. But one thing was constantly nagging me in the back of my mind.

What did she mean by, ' _Civil-War'_?

* * *

 _ **If you guys have any feedback, please leave a review.**_


	3. Welcome To Camp Half-Blood

_**Jet**_

" _Welcome to Camp Half-Blood."_

I gave a low long whistle in suprise. This camp is _huge_. I couldn't even move, I was speechless. _Definitely_ better than Charlex Xavier's school. I wonder if they have like a, demigod X-men basement.

Clint snapped his fingers, "Jet. I know it's pretty but we have to go to the big house first."

I follow him to a large, towering house that was surveying the whole camp.

"It sure is big. Does it have a name?"

"The Big House."

"Nice. _R_ _eal_ creative bro." Clint rolled his eyes.

As we approach the Big House I see a man riding a horse. They have horses here? _Cool._

But when we got closer I realise that he isn't riding a horse. He _is_ the horse. Ok less cool

"We're back Chiron!" said Sayleb, the donkey man. "I found my first demigod!"

Clint muttered something. " _Hmph,_ more like _I_ did most of the work." But Sayleb didn't seem to take notice.

"Job well done, Sayleb." Chiron says.

Chiron had flowing, brown hair and the most glorious well-groomed beard I have ever seen. He seems like the guy who is usually a strict principle but is actually that cool uncle you meet at family gatherings. (Love you, Uncle Greg.)

He glares at me, face stern, like he was waiting for my next move. Then his eyes relax — switching to cool uncle mode.

"I know this is probably a lot to take in… I'm sorry, what is your name?."

I don't usually like giving my full name... but: "Jedediah Graves but just call me Je — "

"Yes Jedediah." Oh great. "This is probably a lot to take in especially after all that you had to go through." He looks at me worryingly, waiting for me to pass out. But I don't.

"It was at first but I'm fine now," I reply, "absolutely nothing to worry about."

He looks stunned, "So you're not confused at all to why I'm —"

"A centaur? No."

Clint spoke out of nowhere, startling me. "He took out a cyclops on his first night and he knows a thing or two about Greek mythology." How does he do that? He's like a _shadow._

" _Impressive_. Tell me, have you been claimed?"

 _"_ What?"

"Well, being claimed is when your godly parent decides to acknowledge that you are his/her's child," said Chiron, "I assume you have not been claimed?"

"No." I don't even think my _non-godly_ parent has acknowledged me.

"Ah well, not to worry, that is completely normal. You will have to stay in the Hermes cabin for now. Clint, please show him to his quarters," he says, "oh and Sayleb your off for the day, go get some rest."

Chiron goes back inside the house as Clint gestures me to follow him. It's strangely quiet for a campus. Almost _too..._ quiet — bah, there just probably sleeping.

As we walk through the camp I could see the various facilities this place had. There's a volleyball court, amphitheatre and I think an Arts N' Cra — _no,_ they have a... climbing wall — an _arena?_

"We have a pegasus stable as well."

A _PEGASUS_ stab — there's _pegasuseses!?_ Ok, this place is sick.

Then I see the cabins. Each cabin was different from the other. One was obsidian with a skull above the door. _Edgy_. Another one made of stone with magical writing. And a barbie house. Alot of d _iversity_. In total there were 20 cabins. Who needs that many cabins?

"There used to be only 12 but after the titan war, the minor gods got cabins of their own. One of those being Hecate's." Does this guy read minds or something?

I reply "Mmhm, yep. Titan war, minor gods. Gotcha."

We approach one of the cabins. It was one of the larger ones but also one the most boring. Above the door was a symbol, a staff with wings and two snakes winding around it.

Clint knocks on the door. There are sounds of sheets rustling and footsteps coming from inside.

I hear a voice. "I. Swear. To. Gods. If I see another flower _decorated_ on our cabin you're gonna wake up in the middle of the lake!"

The door burst open. Standing in front of me was a very annoyed kid who looked like he had been dealing with the flower bandits all night. _Poor guy._

He was tall with curly brown hair and blue eyes.

The moment he saw us, his face turned from anger to exhaustion.

"Oh it's you." he mumbles.

"Hey, Connor."

He sighs. "Hey Clint. Sorry about that. Katie and the rest of the demeter kids have been covering this place with vines and flowers. It's a _pain_ getting rid of them." I didn't notice at first but the cabin was covered in vines and flowers were sprawling from the roof. Some of the vines were sticking out, as if there was an attempt to remove them. Emphasis on _attempt_.

"They only want revenge for us covering their cabin with chocolate easter bunnies —" They did what? " — but that was ONE TIME! I mean we also messed with their water system and set a couple of wild chickens loose in their cabin. But that's it... I think." He suddenly sees me standing behind Clint. "So who's the new guy?"

"Just another non-claimed demigod." I start to get the impression that not being claimed wasn't a _good_ thing.

Connor understood as if he's heard this a thousand times. "Alright, we'll take it from here."

"Thanks." Clint left, I assume he was going to his own cabin, leaving me alone with Connor. It was kinda awkward, I had been glancing sideways and not making much eye contact.

"Aww, come on I don't bite," he said reassuringly, "I'm not gonna stab you in the back and try to destroy Olympus."

Wait what. Also — there's an _Olympus_.

"Ah. It's a long story." he says. "Anyways, I'm Connor, head counselor of the Hermes cabin. It used to be me and my brother but he went to college." I notice a glint of sadness in his eyes.

"Well I'm Jet," I respond. "Head counselor of... myself."

He laughs. "Alright come inside."

He leads me into the cabin and _yikes._ I gotta say, it wasn't... how do I say this — pretty. It looks old and worn-out, even the paint was rubbing off. And all around the room were bunk beds, a kid in each one. Connor walks away to flick a switch and the lights turn on.

I say turn on but I really mean some flickered and the rest were delayed. The sound of grumbling campers came from the beds.

"Wakey wakey, rise and shine. We got a newcomer." Connor says.

"What the Tartarus Connor," a girl yelled, "it's too early!"

"Yeah I know Vicky, but we have to welcome the new guy." He shoves me forward, presenting me to the whole class. "This is Jet. Jet, Hermes cabin. Hermes cabin, Jet."

"Hi Jet." They all say in unison.

A kid who looks about 14 stands up from his bed and speaks. "Welcome Jet! This is Camp Half-Blood, home of the endangered and land of the forgotten-by-their-own-parents. Hope you enjoy your stay!" then went instantly back to sleep.

"Well I guess that's one way of doing of it." Connor mutters.

"Who's your godly parent?" Vicky called out.

"Um... I don't kno —."

"He probably hasn't been claimed, dumbass!" a voice said at the other end of the room.

"I bet it's Ares," cried another.

"Noooo, it's clearly Dionysus! He smells like beer!" I conciously smell my my jacket to check.

"What about Aphrodite?"

"Are you kidding? He's not even good looking." _Ouch_.

"It could be hephaestus?"

"Nah, he doesn't look the forge type."

"Artemis maybe?"

"She's a virgin!"

"Yeah and so are you."

The whole cabin bursts into laughter, probably waking up the whole camp. The only one that wasn't was Connor. He looked embarrassed and almost apologetic.

 _Jeez._ Imagine having to take care of this bunch, it'd be like herding a wild pack of hyenas.

"Yeah... sorry. Your gonna have to live with this for a while."

"It's fine, they ain't too bad." I say, "I kinda like'em," I smirk and Connor replies with a smirk of his own.

"I believe _we_ are gonna have _lots of fun._ "

* * *

 _ **Aaaaand that's chapter 3! What did you guys think? Can you guess Jet's godly parent?**_


	4. Having Fun?

_**Clint**_

As I walk back to my cabin, the door to the Hermes cabin closes behind me. I hear loud, obnoxious laughter come from those _damn_ Hermes kids. Don't they ever know how to _shut up_. Gods I'm tired.

When I finally reach my cabin, I open the door and throw myself onto my bed. Not even getting changed. I just spent a whole day looking for demigods.

 _Ah._..that feels nice. Now I can enjoy this sleep with zero interu — "Clint?" The voice came from another bed, I turn to see who it was.

I let out a sigh,"What. Oscar."

Oscar was my brother. No not half-brother, _actual_ brother. He's only a couple years younger than me. I always looked out for him because he'd get into the most craziest amount of trouble sometimes.

"Your friends with Brooke right?" he says.

"Yeah?"

"Wha — what do you know about her?"

I frown, "Why do you wanna know?"

"Why does it matter!" **Weird** , why is he so mad? He lowers his voice, "I just wanna know."

"Um okay?" I reply.

"Hmmm, let me see," I think about it for a moment,"well, she's a music _nerd_ , she's very curious about _everything_ and she absolutely adores her father." I still don't know what this has to do with any — wait... No no no no no. _No way._

"Do you have a crush on Brooke?"

"WHAT!? NO!" He tries denying it but there was no point, he was already red like a tomato.

I laugh my pants off. I struggle to keep quiet, trying not to wake the others.

" _HAH!_ That's why your so awkward whenever your around her!"

"What? NO! It's just..." he couldn't speak.

"Hey man, whatever. Brooke's cool, just be careful. She can beat the truth out of you in seconds." I grin, "Unless of course, that's your type."

"Shut up." He turns to face the wall, defeated.

I chuckle sightly, "Goodnight lover boy." I then shut my eyes and drift off into sleep.

 _Fire. Fire everywhere._

 _The heat was killing me. Camp Half-Blood was engulfed in flames. Dead greeks littered the ground. All my friends, my family. A purple flag, waving on the hill and thousands of shapes marching down. Chiron lay next to me, bloodied and scarred. "The romans, they_ _— they_ _slaughtered us all!" A black figure appeared, it's voice distorted, "Death to the Greeks." I was overcome with pain, I look down and a sword was stabbed into my stomach, blood spilling everywhere._

I wake up. Getting up so fast that I bump my head on the bunk above me. _Ow_. I couldn't control my breathing and sweat was pouring down my face. What the _hades_ was that all about?

"Dreams?" Standing next to my bed is Lou Ellen Blackstone, head counselor of our cabin.

I steady my breathing, "Yeah, just the usual." I respond.

"Doesn't look like the usual." She gestures to the sweat covering my face.

"It's just hot."

She doesn't seem convinced. She looks at me for a while until she decides that this isn't worth her time. "Whatever. Just remember to clean your bed — it smells disgusting."

After she leaves, I get up and switch into a new pair of clothes for the day (still the same trench coat). I change the sheets for my bed — as requested and went outside. The light hits me like a wall and blinds my vision. _Jeez..._ tune it down, Apollo.

I look for my brother, but he wasn't there. He's probably in the arena, training.

I walk into the arena and see him practicing with his sword. He had summoned a magic dummy that could move and block attacks like a real person. He didn't notice me at first until I threw my knife, making contact with the dummies brain. It falls to the ground and disappears. My brother swings but then realise his target wasn't there anymore. He turns around and jumps.

" _Jesus_ man. Can you _not_ creep up on people _all_ the time." he says.

I mock him, "Keep practicing and maybe you can actually land a hit."

"Ah — Ha, very funny," he says, "but I had him distracted making it easier for you to hit him." We both laugh and fist-bump each other, _as your average brothers do._ He took a break from training and sat with me on one of the benches.

"So what's up?" Oscar asked.

"Oh you know, the usual," I replied, "bad dreams."

"Mmm, that is pretty usual," he nodded.

"Hey guys!"

We both turn our heads to discover where the voice came for. Lo and behold, it was Brooke running towards us.

She walks up to us panting, "I have been — looking for you — guys _everywhere_. " She takes a minute to breathe. "What are you doing here?"

"Well you see," I look at Oscar with a mischievous smile, "Oscar here was practicing and took down 6 magic training dummies without even breaking a sweat."

"I did?" I elbow him on his side, "I mean... yeah, I did."

"Nice." says Brooke. Oscar's going red and he was trying his best to hide it. Oh this is _too_ rich.

"Come to think of it, I do need help moving some stuff at our cabin. Do you mind?" she asks.

"Uhhh, I'm kinda bu —."

"He would love to," I cut in.

"Great! Follow me."

Brooke takes him by the hand and leads him to her cabin. He turns around giving me a death stare. I just respond with a thumbs up. Once they were gone I couldn't help it, I roll on the floor and start laughing.

"What is so funny Mister Asher?"

I stand up, alarmed. Turns out Chiron got here at some point, I hope he wasn't here the whole time.

"Nothing," I recollect myself, making sure I look presentable, "what can I do for you?"

He wipes the look of confusion on his face and reverts back to his normal stern-self. "I want you to watch our new camper and show him around."

"Really? Another babysitting assignment? Just get someone else." I complain.

"You are the only one that he knows well enough and I don't trust him around Connor," he says. "Who knows what mischief they can get up to."

"But —"

"No buts, Clint. Just do what I ask." There was no point in fighting, once Chiron makes a decision, it's very hard to change his mind.

"Fine."

He nods and walks away. Great, now I have to babysit Jet. _This'll_ be fun.

I walk up to the Hermes cabin and knock on the door. To my suprise, Eli answers the door.

"Hey Eli, have you seen Jet around?"

The little boy rotates his glasses. "Oh Jet? He went with Connor to the Ares cabin."

Ares cabin? Why would he go there? _Oh no._

I run as fast as I can but it was already too late. I watch in horror as Connor and Jet were laughing hysterically. They had replaced all of the Ares kids weapons with balloon versions. A girl steps out of the cabin. It was the Amazon of Scotland herself, Diana. Her red hair messy, like she had just woken up.

"Where _IS IT_ Stoll! _WHERE'S_ me axe?"

"What do you mean?" he replies, still laughing, "your holding it right there!"

" _THAT'S_ it," She grabsConnor by the collar, lifting him one foot in the air. _Holy cow_ , that woman has more muscle in her arms than my entire body. "Say hi to hades for me!"

She was about to wind up her punch, ready to send Connor straight to the underworld but someone striked first. She's pushed back and taken by surprise as Jet stand sbetween her and Connor.

"Listen _laddie_ , I know you're new around here so I'm gonna give ya this one chance," she warns, "Get. _The Hell_. Outta my way."

Jet doesn't move, instead he stands his ground, "Oh yeah? Make me, _Braveheart._ "

There's silence, no one can believe what's happening. He just called her Braveheart. The _balls_ on this kid.

A deadly stare off ensues between them, going on for about 5 straight minutes. Diana didn't flinch, nor did Jet. Everyone's expecting fists to go flying but the strangest thing happens. Diana starts to laugh, everyone's stunned. She smiles. She actually smiles and extends her hand.

She laughs loudly. "Braveheart," she says. "That's a good one."

Jet stands there perplexed. "Uh... ha-ha?"

"I like this guy!" she pulls him into a firm handshake, "You sure your not an Ares kid _mate_? Cause you've got the fire o' one."

"Um... thanks?" he says looking confused as everyone else was. Diana replies with a simple nod and turns to Connor.

"Now, you're gonna tell me where my axe is Stoll or so help me gods you'll get an asskicking _worse_ than England." She starts to drag him by the ear

Connor yells in pain "Ow, ow alright ow! It's over there!"

Diana and the rest of her siblings follow Connor to where I assume all their weapons were stashed. I then approach Jet who was still standing there, confused.

"Hey Jet." I say.

"Oh hey Clint," he replies, "I didn't see you standing there. I pretty much never do."

"You having fun?" I ask.

"Uh... yeah. It's — It's been great, man. Earlier me and Connor made makeshift rocket teddy bears. That was pretty sweet."

"You also managed to make friends with the most dangerous woman in camp."

"Yeah, that too."

"Well, too bad that fun is about to stop in about... say, 10 seconds."

"What. why?"

"Cause I'm taking you on the Camp Half-Blood tour." I say unenthusiastically. "Chiron's orders."

He groans, clearly not happy with the idea. But he can't do anything about it.

* * *

 ** _Chapter 4 Done! I had some fun writing this one but the next chapter will be even more crazy!_**

 ** _Tell me what you guys think and leave a review._**


	5. Capture The Fake Flag

_**Brooke**_

"Over there, no — over there! Do you know your left and right?"

Oscar's 'helping' me move things around our cabin, though he doesn't really know what he was doing.

"How… many… instruments do you guys have?" his face sweating like crazy, "you guys have tubas, trombones, saxophones."

"We're children of Apollo remember, god of music?" I reply.

"Right...right," He takes a look around and something catches his eye.

"Oh... a drum-set!" He sits down behind the drum kit and picks up the sticks. He tries to play but accidentally hits his finger on the snare.

He curses in pain, "I don't think that's how Mike Portnoy does it."

"Who?" I ask.

He looks at me like I just insulted him. "You don't know who Mike Portnoy is?" he asks. "Dream Theater? One of the best drummers of all time?"

I look at him, confused. "I'm... not really into metal."

He gasps. "You're not int — how dare you! You _have_ to listen to some."

I couldn't help but laugh, "You're such a dork." He looks at me with a warm smile. That cute, dorky smile.

"Hey," he looks at me, "do you want to like, grab something to eat later?"

I was stunned, my brain's trying to compute what he just said. Did he just, ask me out? _No ones_ asked me out before.

But before I could answer a horn sounds in the distance. People are running past my window with their weapons and armor. _Crap_. I forgot today was capture the flag. It seems like Oscar forgot too.

"Capture the flag," I tell him, "let's go." I strap my violin to my back and turn the bow into a dagger.

Everyone was gathering around a massive boulder, where Mr. D was standing. Chiron and Annabeth at the side. Clint was there too with the new guy.

"All right! Today is capture the flag!" Mr. D screams and then points to where Clint is, "And... we also have a new camper! Jeremiah Staves!" Some of the Hermes kids snickered.

"This will be his first game! Go easy — or not, I really don't care!" he says, "just remember the rules." He begins to list down the rules we've heard a million times. _Literally_.

"...and remember, NO KILLING!"

"Yeah...Yeah, Hurry up already." Someone from the crowd cries out.

"Dean, come see me after this," he ignores the laughs in the audience, "now for the teams!" Everyone starts getting anxious, wondering who they'd be paired with.

"Blue Team: Hermes, Hecate, Athena, Aphrodite, Demeter, Iris and Nemesis Cabin!" he continues, "Red Team: Ares, Apollo, Hephaestus, Nike, Hypnos and Hades cabin!"

"Wait, thats unfair! They have an extra cabin!" a voice calls.

"Oh _really_? Well let me make it even then! You can get one extra member then!" he looks through the crowd and smirks,"You can get our new demigod!" The Red Team groans. Oh come on, why do _we_ get the new guy.

Clint grabs my shoulder, "Look after Jet for me." I assume Jet was the new guy and also not surprising that his name wasn't actually Jeremiah. Dionysus never seems to get them right.

"Yeah, no worries." I reply.

He walks back to Jet and whispers something into his ear. Jet strolls towards me, spear in hand. It was obvious he had never used one before.

"Hi, I'm Brooke. You must be Jet."

"Mmhm... yeah. Is that a violin?" he asks pointing to the instrument on my back.

"Yeah, it is. I use it to-"

"Play music? Just a _wild_ guess." What's his problem?

"Come on, _Beethoven_." He says. Gods, I want to smack that annoying smirk off his face.

"Don't call me that."

We walk to the entrance of our forest and waiting for us was Nico and Will.

"So you're the designated babysitter huh?" The hades boy chuckles, "Did Clint put you up to this?" I nod.

Jet looks offended. "Hey listen _Skeletor._ No one, sits on me okay?"

Will laughs as Nico starts turning red, which I didn't know was possible.

"It's fine, he didn't mean anything by it." Will speaks up, "Besides, you should try babysitting _him_."

"Hey!"

* * *

We get in position and find a good place to set up our flag.

We place it strategically in a rocky area so that it was harder to get to. The hephaestus cabin quickly puts up traps and defences. Although, I don't know if a cheese catapult counts as a _'defence'._ We then decide to leave two of them to guard the flag. After we finish preparing we move through the forest.

We move cautiously, keeping our eyes out for any signs of the other team. I walk next to Jet to babysit and make sure he didn't do anything stupid. _Huh_ , by now I expected an —

" _AMBUSH."_

Vines starts growing around us like a ring, trapping us inside. Some of our team gets caught on the outside, getting picked off one by one. This isn't good.

With all her fury and a mighty roar, Diana instantly chops through the vines with her axe, _Bloodsong_ whilst Nico buries the rest into the earth. We rush out to meet them. I go for the group of demigods closest to me. I weave through all their swings, slashing one with my dagger incapacitating him and sweeping the leg of another. To my side I hear a voice yell:

" _JUSTICE_ and _RETRIBUTION_!" And the next thing I know I'm tackled to the ground, a Nemesis kid stands over me.

He tells me, "I personally have nothing against you but _VENGEANCE WILL BE MINE!"_ Boy there intense. I wait for my inevitable doom until I see a spear dig into the shoulder of my attacker.

"I thought you were supposed to look out for _me_?" It was Jet, he kicks him across the face and offers a hand to help me up.

"Thanks, but I still don't like you." I say

"I don't like you too Beethoven."

At that moment, four more decide to attack us, catching us by surprise. Two go for me while the other two went for Jet. The two that attack me aren't that experienced, there swords weren't balanced and there stance is off. I wait for one of them to strike. He hurls his sword overhead trying to hit me with a downwards swing but I manage to step to the side. His sword gets stuck on a log and I quickly disarm him and knock him to the ground. Thats _one._

The next one tries to grapple me but I duck behind him and — I don't usually do this — I grab my violin and bonk him on the back of his head. Thank gods it's a magical violin because it'd be in pieces by now. He falls to his knees, head spinning as if little pegasi were going circles around his head. The one I disarmed before runs away screaming until he makes the mistake of running into a tree. Oh _brother._

I look to check how Jet's doing and to my surprise he was doing just fine. Messy, but fine. It was like watching a bar fight. He throws the butt of his spear at his opponents head dazing him. He then follows up with a punch straight to the face. Yes ladies and gentlemen... a _punch_. We have swords, spears, clubs, axes, knives but he uses his fist. Too busy boasting, he almost gets a new haircut. Luckily he reacts in time, still managing to talk, "Woah! That's a sword...That's a sword." _Gods,_ does he not know when to shut up. He kicks the guy in his... how should I say this — private region, leaving the poor dude sprawling in pain.

He turns to me,"You know. I think I'm getting the hang of this"

"Yeah. If thats what you call 'getting the hang of this'." I say but he just shrugs.

"Are you two done rambling or are ye gonna help?" We both look and see Diana holding off five people at once. We rush in to help but realise it wasn't needed. She shoves all five back and with one swing of her axe, drives them to the ground.

We were getting outnumbered, a cabins worth of our team was out and we can't possibly take them all out by fighting. Even Diana was starting to get tired. I come up with a plan. I pull out my violin, turn my dagger back into a bow and start playing 'Air' by Johann Sebastian Bach on G-String (Oh ha-ha-ha).

"What are you doing!?" Jet yells into my ear, "Now's not the time for a practice session!" But I ignore him.

Two hypnos kids realise what I'm doing and join in using their magic. The sound of steel clashing lessens and everyone stops. Our opponents rub their eyes and start yawning. After a couple more minutes of playing, they all fell asleep.

"Huh, smart." Jet says but Diana scoffs.

"Boring, I wanted to smash some skulls."

"If it's skulls you want..." Nico says.

"Shut up, _corpse boy_."

We keep moving forward and get to an opening and find ourselves by the creek. On the other side was Clint, alone by the enemy flag. He was looking straight at us, waiting. We move into the creek but it slows us down.

Smiling, Clint throws two cards. Some of my teammates couldn't move, like they were frozen in place but eyes still moving. Some were being pulled back by the water. Clint reaches for another card and mutters to himself. Then he places it on the ground and suddenly a wall of fire, only about 3 feet high, covers the shoreline. It slows most of us down but not me.

I was the first one in, I charge at Clint. He throws three knives at me, I manages to deflect the first two but the third one knicks my shoulder, leaving a small cut. He then pulls out another card and a sword materialised in his hands. That's _4_. I'm keeping count because I know Clint can only use 6 cards a day. He has two spells left.

We engage in combat, parrying strikes and countering each others hits. I struggle a bit because Clint was a far better fighter than me.

"So how was your date with Oscar?" he said in between blows.

"Huh?"

"I said how was your time with Oscar?"

"Oh... it was fine," I reply. "He was being a complete idiot though."

"Well, that's my brother."

"He's also a huge metalhead." I say.

" _Oh yeah_ , big time. Whatever you do, don't let him talk about _Motorhead_. Guy goes on for hours."

"Yeah, well he is kind of cute." _Shit,_ did I say that out loud?

Clint raises his eyebrow, "What was that?"

"Nothing."

"Okay." He clearly knew something was up, my face says it all. "Well, they probably have it by now."

"Have what?"

"You didn't think this was actually our flag right?" I stop. I look at the flag but it was still the same. I look at it again and see a slight shimmer. I go to touch it but it just phases right through my hands. The rest of my teammates gets through and tries to grab the flag but didn't have any luck.

"What is this magic?" Will exclaimed.

"An illusion, courtesy of the Hecate cabin," Clint had a massive grin on his face, "anyways, I'm gonna go protect the _real_ flag." He pulls out another card, whispers a word into it and disappeared. That should be his last spell, counting the 4 from before and the illusion. Have _you_ been counting?

"This was just a distraction."

We all just have a sudden realisation of what was happening. Me, Jet, Nico, Will and Diana run back to our flag as fast as we could.


	6. I'm A What?

_**Jet**_

A _fake_ flag? Isn't that against the rules? Then again. I didn't actually listen to the rules besides the whole 'no killing' thing.

I follow Brooke and the rest back to our flag, hoping it hasn't already been taken. On the way we spot one enemy standing between two trees, waiting.

"It's the athena cabin." Brooke whispers, "Only one. We can take him."

Five against one _did_ seem like a good chance and Diana counted as ten. But… something doesn't seem right. It's too easy, too simple. Why would only one of them just be waiting there in between all the trees and shrubbery. Looks like a perfect chokepoint if anything. Worthy of an ' _It's a trap!'_ moment. The others start moving in but I stop them.

"Wait," I say. They turn around and stare at me.

"What now?" Diana asks, "I'm itching to kick some ass." That woman is terrifying.

I speak, "Look around. There's thick shrubbery and trees everywhere except this one path," I say. "If we go down that path, we'll probably get jumped and surrounded. _Then_ we're screwed."

They look at me questioningly, not sure of whether to believe what I'm saying.

"What do you propose we do then?" The boy they call Nico asks.

I think about it for a moment and devise a plan. "Me and Diana go around to the left, taking out anybody we find. Nico and Will go around the right doing the same. Then after we're done we'll converge back in the centre and take out the one."

Brooke raises her hand, "What do I do?"

"You, Beethoven." I say, " are gonna be the bait."

She looks in shock, "Wai — um…"

"Alright, ready guys? Let's go."

"No, hold on…"

We split into our groups and leave Brooke alone in the middle. I could hear her cursing as we walk away.

* * *

As me and Diana walk around, we keep our eyes open for any hostiles. Then I spot them, three more boys in blue waiting in the bushes. Preparing to strike. I tell Diana:

"Bogeys, on your 3 o'clock."

"My what?" she whispers.

"Your 3 o'cl — _your right."_

"Oh okay. Why didn't you say that then?" she asks.

"We're supposed to be tacti — just nevermind."

We pick our targets. I take the one on the far right whilst she takes the one on the far left. I sneak up behind the guy, playing the mission impossible theme in my head. I put the dude in a sleeper hold, knocking him out. I then hear a thud and then a loud grunt coming from my left. The person that wasn't _any_ of our targets stands up. _Oh no._ He goes to investigate but before he could I did the same thing to him that I did to the other guy. I put him to sleep.

Diana is standing in front of me, her target drooling and unconscious on the dirt with a big mark on his forehead.

"You were supposed to be quiet." I say, annoyed.

"Oh yeah? Mister…" she mocks me with hand signals and says things like "Bogey… 6 o'clock… tango…"

"Hey that isn't a joke. This — this is seal stuff. It's special forces."

She continues to do it. I sigh and slam my palm into my face. "Whatever, lets just go."

We reach the edge of the thick shrubbery, still being completely hidden. We watch as Brooke walks down the path and faces the one athena kid.

Brooke speaks first, "Out of my way, Malcolm."

The guy called Malcolm just grins and looks straight at her, "Why should I do that?"

"Because if you don't. I will." she says threateningly.

"We'll see about that," Malcolm smirks. " _Now!_ " He waits, but nothing happens. He tries it again.

" _Now!_ " Still nothing.

"I said, _Now!"_ Nothing.

His face begins to grimace and we decide to jump out. On the other side, Will and Nico pop out of the bushes as well. Malcolm stands there in shock not knowing what to do. But he recovers and lashes out at the first person he sees. Brooke.

With lightning speed, he thrusts his sword towards Brooke but he trips and falls instead. A skeleton hand had grabbed his ankle. Nico shakes his finger and clicks his tongue like what grandpa stan used to do when he was talking about _those darn kids_.

I'm beginning to like Nico. He's like the real life version of a warlock… and warlocks are _sick_.

With a face full of dirt, Malcolm asks, "How did you guys know?" And at that moment, an owl soared from above. It shows off, doing a couple tricks before it hovers above my head. _Please_ don't poop on me… _please_ don't poop on me.

Thankfully it didn't poop on me but instead it's eyes began to glow and it spread its wings like it was hugging me. Then a symbol burned on the front of my jacket. _That's_ not gonna come off anytime soon. The symbol was the same owl, it's glowing eyes and massive wings. Then the owl's eyes stopped glowing and it flew away back into the canopy of trees.

Everyone was staring at me, symbol still burned on my jacket.

Will looks in amazement, "You're… you're a child of Athena."

A child of Athena? No — that can't be… how?... Why? Athena's supposed to be smart, wise and I'm none of those. What's next? ' _You're a wizard, Jet'_

Everyone is silent, even Malcolm but he was just scowling. I shake my head and regain my senses.

"Whatever. Now's not the time." I say, "We need to get back to our flag."

"He's right." Brooke says. I _knew_ she liked me.

Everyone nods in agreement. We leave Malcolm in the dirt and start running again.

* * *

We finally reach our destination and what we see isn't good. A girl who I find out was Katie Gardner, had trapped our guards in flowers and Connor had disabled all the traps. Boy that Connor guy is _great_.

Oh _shit,_ someone was already almost at the flag. We did have the element of surprise until two kids spot us alerting the rest to our position. Nico and Will start running towards the two, Nico yelled:

"Go! We'll handle these guys. Just stop them from getting the flag!"

The three of us ran to our flag until Connor and Katie stopped us. I tell Brooke to keep running while we manage these two.

"Hey Jet," Connor says, "how's your first capture the flag game going man?"

"Oh it's pretty cool dude. Hey, I thought you and Katie hated each other?"

He turns to Katie then back to me, "Nah man, she loves me." Katie then slaps him.

"Can ye two stop getting cuddly and start fightin'?" Diana buts in.

"Yeah let's start bashing brains already." Not what I was expecting from a daughter of the flower god.

We were about to engage in a battle of the bands until a horn sounds off. Coming through the forest, were 15 figures, all dressed in purple. They were charging straight for us. Everyone stops what they are doing and faces their attention to the new threat.

"Who's this?" The guy who was with Brooke walks up to us.

"This is Jet. New demigod. Explain later." Brooke says.

"I'm Oscar."

"Oh hey." I say, "Jet. But you already knew that."

"Who are they?" Connor asks. "A new team?"

"I don't think so." says Brooke.

"Well, 10 against 15 isn't so bad."

"Wait, we're not actually gonna fi — " Katie is cut off when an arrow lands at her feet.

"Katie, I think we are."

Diana's the first to jump in. She leaps into the middle of them with her axe and shouting many scottish insults. We see swords, and people, flying from where she landed. The rest of them charged at us. Nico summons six skeletons to fight by his side. Then his hand suddenly engulfs in shadowy flame and points it towards the incoming hostiles. A beam of that shadowy fire erupts from his hand and shoots straight into the frey of enemies. And Oscar was casting some spells which looked insanely cool. _He's_ a wizard. Katie has her owns tricks aswell. Thorns burst out from the forest and wrap around our opponents. I swear, on paper being a child of Demeter sounds lame but so far — Katie has been the most brutal. Then the rest of us charge in.

Brooke and Will were using their Apollo-y magic. Brooke was slashing left and right with her dagger as well as smacking people with her violin. Will managed to stun a lot of his opponents by... whistling? I don't even wanna know. Oh and me and Connor? I don't know, we were just _kicking some ass_. We were back to back, like Batman and Robin... but we're both Batman.

"Weapon!" he called out and I threw him my spear.

The guy in front of me tries to thrust his sword at me but I catch his hand and smack him with the back of my fist, pummeling him to the ground. I then run up to the next guy and dropkick him in the chest. Another one comes at me. They just _keep_ coming.

"Weapon!" I call out and a spear is thrown at the one the came after me, sticking in his shoulder. I pull it out, slightly apologetic to the guy, and keep fighting.

After we finish off the rest of them, Nico investigates the bodies. He turns over the body of one and his face is in shock.

"These — these guys are romans." Everyone else is speechless. _Romans?_ I notice the S.P.Q.R insignia on their shirts.

"But what are they doing he —." Before I could finish my sentence, a rogue roman, a _rogueman_ , pounces out of nowhere aiming for Brooke. The roman was fast, no way could Brooke block the hit. Then something happened, a movement too quick for my eyes to see. I expected Brooke to be stabbed but instead, Oscar had taken the hit. We were all froze in shock, not knowing what do.

Oscar drops to the ground, bleeding everywhere.

The roman stops, he looks around, confused. He looks at his hands and to the body in front of him. His face is in horror.

"Wher — what? — wha did I —" but before he could say anything else, I drive my fist into his face without even thinking.

" _Oscar!_ " Brooke calls out. She drops to her knees, placing a hand on his head.

"Why did you do that!" she cries, "You — You idiot!"

He places a hand on her face, "If — if you got hurt, how could I... " he coughs, "how — how would I show you the world of metal?"

She smiles slightly. Even after everything, dude could make her happy. "But — but, you didn't have to _do_ that."

Oscar gave a soft laugh. "Jeez, Brooke...you really don't know, do you?" Then his calm face changed, twisting in pain. "I'll — I'll see you again, okay? I'll see you —"

His eyes start to close.

" _No_ — no, no, no — wait, _please_ , no —" Brooke starts to cry, holding Oscar's cold body in her arms.

She looks desparately at Nico, looking for an answer. Nico shakes his head, "I'm sorry."

We all fell silent, the only thing you could hear was the sound of sobbing and tears.

Everyone else, circles around us. Even Chiron and Mr. D shows up.

I hear someone pushing through the crowd of demigods, It was Clint. He drops to his knees and hangs his head.

" _No_."

* * *

 _ **Clifffffhaaanngggeeerrrr. Yeah pretty intense.**_

 _ **Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter.**_

 _ **Leave a review.**_


	7. Freddie And Vern

_**Hey guys, new characters.**_

 _ **Don't worry. The story will still mainly be focused around Jet, Brooke and Clint.**_

 _ **I just thought it would be cool to have some Roman perspectives as well. Anyways, I hope you enjoy.**_

* * *

 _ **Freddie & Vern**_

 _Freddie_

I hear a knock on the door. What in _pluto_ is it now?

I open the door to a familiar face. It was Hazel, Centurion of the fifth cohort. _My_ cohort.

"Hey, Freddie." She says, "Sorry to disturb you but… it's about your brother."

"Oh great. What is he up to now." I reply.

She hesitates, then finally speaks. "He's… he's gone out."

I sigh, "to?"

"To… fight monsters."

"What?" I yell in disbelief, "What'd he go and do that for?"

"I... I... don't know but he said something about proving himse — ."

I grab my quarterstaff and storm out the building. I reach the entrance of the Caldecott but before I go in Hazel stops me. She brought a couple of other legionnaires from my cohort with her. I recognize most of them but only as acquaintances. I never really made friends because most didn't trust me, being a child of Laverna and all. Hazel was the only one I did call 'friend' besides my brother. Hazel and Frank were the only ones who gave us a chance, even Percy when he stopped by. Reyna...she was getting there. Percy was actually a really good guy, I'm surprised none of the fame got to his head. Most of the Greeks were like that. Just nice people, who didn't care (or know) about my family's history. Honestly, I wished we met up with Greeks more.

"I thought you could use some help, it's pretty dangerous out there." Hazel says.

I smile, "Aren't you coming?."

She shakes her head, "I can't. I have some business with Percy that he wants to speak about."

I nod and she walks back to the barracks. I look at the rest of the group and gesture them to follow me.

* * *

 _Vern_

Okay… oh monsters, oh monsters. Where art thou monsters?

I've been looking for the past hour but so far I've had no luck. I decided not to bring my brother because he would've been all like:

"I'm Freddie. I'm too responsible and too cool to be doing that. Eh… My hair is so cool." Or something along those lines.

I walk through the streets, trying to spot anything out of the — oh… that purse looks nice. _No_ , stop it Vern. You're here to fight monsters, not live up to your stereotype. _But_ it's a Valentino bag… _NO_. Uh... I can't pick.

Monsters or Valentino bag.

Monsters or Valentino bag.

Monsters or Valentino bag… _Ah_ screw it. Valentino bag.

I sneak through groups of people, diving behind benches, ducking under lamp posts, being non-chalant as possible. I see the woman sitting on a bench with the bag to her side, completely exposed. I creep up behind her and reach into her bag. Well, shouldn't be a problem. It'll be just like any other grab. I just find anything valuable like a — _snake!?_

I leap backwards a good 5 feet, screaming like a little girl… I mean boy. The woman stands up and looks straight at me.

"The _hell_ lady!?" I say, "Who keeps snakes in their purse?"

That's weird, the lady's hair looks like it's moving, as if it was its own living organism.

The woman speaks, "Oh my child. Didn't your parents tell you it was _very_ bad to steal?"

"Ha! Jokes on you… I never met my parents!" That just sounds really sad now.

The woman then slowly unwraps the rag around her hair, revealing hundreds of snakes on her head. It's a Gorgon, though I don't know which one. Probably not Medusa because I haven't become a museum exhibit so far.

* * *

 _Freddie_

A scream came from the park, that's probably Vern. We follow the sound of the scream which is later followed by more screams. We finally reach the park but I don't see any sign of —

"FreddieFreddieFreddieFreddie!" Oh, there he is.

"Hey... little bro!"

" _Oh_ thank god, Freddie you're here." He says, "Oh… Freddie. I've missed you so much…."

"Are — are you crying?" I ask, "nevermind, what happened?"

He takes in a deep breath, "Well… I was looking for monsters and I couldn't find any so I was like ' _oh no_ ' I can't find anything, so I was like bad luck but I keep looking, then I see this Valentino bag and I was like ' _no Vern, don't live up to the stereotype'_ , but I did and then I try and pickpocket the bag and I find a snake, making me scream and then the woman who owns the bag looks at me and — "

"There you are," a voice hisses, "oh… and you brought friends, how pleasant."

I look at Vern, "a Gorgon? A _freaking_ Gorgon!?"

"I'm so… sorry Freddie."

"Whatever bro, it's fine." I say, "Let's just deal with _her_ first."

His eyes light up, "Alright! Vern and Freddie on the Case!"

I ready my quarterstaff, the rest of us do the same. Uh… but without quarterstaves.

* * *

 _Vern_

 _Oh yeah_! Vern and Freddie 'bout to kick some Gorgon butt.

Freddie charges at the Gorgon. Spinning his stick — sorry… _quarterstaff_ he calls it, deflecting a flurry of bows. The rest of the guys he brought with him charges in and starts to attack as well. Her razor sharp fingers scracthing the surfaces of their shields I notch an arrow into my bow and aim straight for the Gorgon's head but she moves just in time. I only manage to shoot of one of her snakes. She screams in agony and starts making a b-line for me. _Not good_.

Her brass hands swipes at me but I roll out of the way shooting another arrow directly after. It wizzed straight passed her head. That one was a complete miss. She goes for me again but she was stopped when Freddie smacked her on the side of the face. You can call it whatever, but when Freddie wields that staff, he's like a kung-fu master. He does _everything_ , flashy tricks and all. The others start poking their spears at her but she just breaks them in half.

"How the hell do we kill this thing?" I ask.

"I dunno, shoot it in the face?" he replies.

"I can't get a close enough shot, and she moves too much."

Freddie falls silent.

"Hey!" I snap my fingers at him, "Now's not the time for your 'cool brooding' moments."

"We could do the spinning arrow."

"Are you serious? That was only for a show so we could get people to like us… and they _still_ don't like us." I say, "Also, I did not agree on calling it the spinning arrow."

"Just hear me out," he replies, "I'll draw her attention and when she gets close enough, you shoot her."

"That's _if_ I can make the shot."

He puts his hand on my shoulder, "I believe in you bro." Like _that's_ supposed to make me feel better

* * *

 _Freddie_

I start spinning my quarterstaff in front of me. Kind of like a human-windmill. Vern's directly behind me, bow at the ready. I shout at the Gorgon:

"Hey! Snake eyes!"

She turns her head to our direction and moves straight towards us. Still spinning the staff.

"Fun little trick demigod," she hisses, "but it won't stop me."

She starts getting close and I panic a little bit.

"Bro… now or never." I say.

" _Not_ yet."

"She's getting closer!"

" _Shut up!_ "

"Vern!"

"And... gotcha." He releases his arrow, zooming straight threw my spinning staff. The Gorgon's face was filled with surprise for she didn't see the arrow incoming (because of my _brilliant_ spinning skills) and she explodes into dust.

I start whooping in celebration, the other legionnaires rolling their eyes.

"Yeah! Spinning Arrow!" I yell. "I _knew_ you could do it bro!."

"Still gotta work on the name." he replies.

We start returning back to camp until somebody appears in front of us, stopping us in our tracks. He didn't look like a monster, instead he just stared at us with a grin. He wore a three piece suit but without the jacket, so he just had the vest and pants. His sleeves rolled up to his elbows. His circular shades full of darkness. He smiles and speaks:

"Ah... a perfect example." He pulls out a stop watch and starts swinging it side to side. I start to feel dizzy, everyone else starts falling around me. Everything goes black.

* * *

 _ **That's the end of the chapter for my newly introduced Roman OC's.**_

 _ **Their perspective will not recur as much as the others but they'll have some moments.**_

 _ **The reason I didn't have the brothers as separate chapters in this one was because I think it would get too messy. Plus, they're a package deal.**_

 _ **I hope you guys enjoyed reading and please send me a review.**_


	8. Hate

_**Freddie**_

"Whe… where am I?"

I sit in the middle of a room, tied to a chair. In front of me there are three figures. They don't say anything, they just stare at me. I could see that one was a centaur, one wore a hawaiian shirt and the other a trench coat.

The one in the trench coat spoke first, "why'd you do it?" I didn't know what he meant. What _did_ I do?

He raised his voice, " _Answer me!_ "

"Clint, we allowed you to be here because you said you would compose yourself." The centaur tells him.

"Sorry, Chiron." _Wait_ , Chiron? We're in Camp Half-Blood? How the hell did we get here?

Chiron turns to me and asks me a question, in a much more calmer tone than Clint's, "Tell me, why are you here?"

I respond, "I… I don't know. One moment we're in San Francisco looking for my brother and —" wait, _Vern_. I look around frantically. "Where's my brother?"

Chiron and who I assumed was Bacchus (or Dionysus in their case) were looking at each other, as if they were trying to think of a way to answer my question carefully. But Clint just stood there, looking at me with utter hatred. What did I do? I haven't seen that kind of resentment since me and my brother showed up at Camp Jupiter, when they figured out there were another two child siblings of Laverna.

Dionysus looks back at me, "He's… safe," he replies. A part of me didn't believe that.

"If you cause _any_ harm to him," I say, "I swear I'm going to —"

"Do not worry, we're not going to hurt him or any of the others." The others? Chiron continues speaking, but more serious this time. "Now tell me. Why did you _attack_ our camp?"

I don't know what to say, I don't remember attacking their camp. "I… I don't know — attack? Wha… what do you mean? We didn't _attack_."

Chiron sighs and frowns, the rest do the same. Clint still glaring at me. After they have a little conversation they nod in agreement. Chiron yells something:

" _Clovis_!"

A blonde kid enters the room. Chiron mutters something in his ear and Clovis starts walking towards me.

"Please, be still," he says, "it'll make this a lot more easier."

He begins to _inspect_ me. I feel like I'm at an optometrist. He flashes a light in my eye, asks me to read something on a piece of paper, 'how many fingers am I holding up?'. After a while he stops and places a hand on my forehead.

"This might hurt a little." he says but before I could protest, memories flash in my mind. _Everything_. When Hazel told me about Vern, when we fought the Gorgon, the mysterious man with the stopwatch. Then another memory popped up, something I don't remember doing. Charging through a forest. 10 people waiting for us. A _red_ flag. Then, a body on the ground, bloodied. A guy in a leather jacket. His fist connecting with my face and then nothing. The memories stop.

He removes his hand from my head. I feel dizzy at first but I refocus. Clovis frowned.

"Hypnotism," hypnotism?, "It's the only explanation."

"But how?" Chiron asks.

"There's many possibilities." Clovis answers. "The only beings that I know could hypnotise would be demigods of Hypnos, Hecate, Hades, any magic users really. As well as some of the gods, including Hypnos himself."

Chiron scratches his beard, "But why would a demigod hypnotise —" he pauses, "we will have to look into this further. I need to discuss this with Annabeth." Annabeth is here? "Come on, this meeting is over. Untie him and bring him to the rest of his friends."

"Not yet. I want to talk." Clint was silent the whole time until now.

Chiron looks at him, "Clint. I know this is hard for you but —"

"I'm fine Chiron, I just want to talk. Please leave, all of you."

They all hesitate. The last thing they want is a dead roman on their hands. But in the end they nod and all leave the room, closing the door behind them. Leaving me and Clint alone. His eyes, piercing me like knives. There was a very awkward silence, but then he spoke.

"So. Who are you?" he asks.

"Freddie"

"And you are a child of?"

"Laverna."

He scoffs, "makes sense."

"Hey. I don't know what you're getting at here bu —"

"Do you even _know_ what you did?" he asks,"The... _pain_ you have caused?"

I look at him, trying to keep my composure, trying to look serious, "No," I reply but then quickly continue, "but I swear _whatever_ I did, I mean no harm to the Greeks of Camp Half-Blood and I hope I haven't caused a turmoil between our camp and yours."

He slightly chuckled when I said ' _no harm'_ but his expression stays the same. His eyes, still fixed on my soul.

He sighs and mutters to himself, his voice croaking "Tell that to Oscar."

"What do you mean?" I ask but he ignores my question.

"You said you have a brother," he says, "what's his name?"

I stay silent.

"What's his name?" he says again, angrier this time but I still keep silent.

He looks at me and I look right back at him. He calms down a little but still keeps his gaze.

"I understand," he says, "you would do anything to protect your brother. _Anything_." He chokes a little on the second anything.

He stares at me for a while then he pulls out a knife from his trench coat. He starts walking towards me. He better not do what I _think_ he might. But instead he cuts me loose.

"Follow me."

He leads me out of the building which I realise now was a house and brings me to a tent. Two guards stood out front and watching my every move. When I step inside I see my fellow legionnaires on beds. Their injuries being tended to by… what was his name? Will, Will Solace. I remember him from when some of the Greeks visited Camp Jupiter.

I see Vern lying down with a sling on his arm and bandages wrapped around his head. I walk up next to his bed and watch him closely. I feel a hand touch my shoulder, I jump.

"Hey, hey it's just me." I turn around and see Will smiling. "Don't worry, he's just resting. He took a pretty bad hit from Diana."

I thank him and apologise.

"Ah… it's alright. No one got hurt except —" he stops himself, "I heard you guys were hypnotised, you couldn't do anything about that."

Clint suddenly walks into the tent and I immediately jump up. "Hey Clint," Will says but Clint ignores him.

"This belongs to you," he says and I didn't realise at first that he was holding my quarterstaff. He extends his hand to give it to me but before I could touch it he drops it on the floor. He then looks down at my brother, reaching for something in his pocket. I reacted by grabbing my quarterstaff. I wasn't tied to a chair anymore and I glared at Clint who was glaring back.

"Relax," he says, revealing what he took out of his pocket, "it's just some ambrosia." He then tosses it onto Vern without care but that just makes me more mad

But before I could retaliate, he grabs my arm. "You think you have _any_ right to be angry? You have _no_ idea what you did that day." I saw a combination of hate and grief in his eyes. "And what's even _worse_ , is that I'm the one that understands you the most." He lets go of my arm, leaving a mark and walks out of the tent. I stood there paralysed. What _happened_ when I was... hypnotised?

"Don't mind him," Will says, "he's… going through some tough times."

I try to change the subject.

"So how come I'm not lying unconscious on one of these beds. Did I not get injured?"

Will laughs, "No, you suffered a pretty nasty punch from Jet. It's just that a punch is easier to recover from than an axe swings from an angry scotswoman."

"Yeah... I guess you're right."

"You don't need to be here by the way," Will says, "we've got him covered, there's warm food in the Big House."

"No," I reply, "I'm staying right here."

I stay up all day, taking care of my brother. I force myself not to sleep but my body says otherwise. My eyes feel heavy and I begin to fall asleep.

 _"Hate" I hear a voice say, I don't know where it's coming from._

 _I'm stood in the centre of New Rome, everything is in ruin, theres rubble everywhere. People screaming and crying._

 _"They_ _hate you, they'll never forgive you." The voice is there again. Above me I see Pegasi flying overhead, arrows coming from each one, shooting down civilians._

 _"They'll kill all the ones you love." In front of me I see my brother being stabbed over and over again by a man in a trench coat. I couldn't do anything, I didn't have a voice or any control over my body._

 _He's relentless, faceless. He pulls Vern's hair and slices his head off, I screamed but no sound came out. My heart was on fire._

 _The head of my brother rolls towards me, blank and with no expression. The voice speaks again but this time it comes from the head._

 _"You must stop them, they'll kill us all." Then, the man in the trench coat approaches me._

 _The last thing I see is the view of a blade slicing my throat._

* * *

 _ **I hope you guys liked the chapter. Please tell me any suggestions and anything I should improve on.**_

 ** _Also what do you guys think of Freddie?_**

 ** _Thank you and please leave a review :)_**


	9. Meet the Family

_**Hi guys! Back with another chapter.**_

 _ **I'd just like to tell you that my updates won't be as frequent as before.**_

 _ **School's back (sad I know) and I won't have as much time.**_

 _ **I'll try my best though, maybe 2 to 3 chapters a week.**_

 _ **Anyways, thanks and enjoy reading!**_

* * *

 _ **Jet**_

"Why can't I just stay in the Hermes cabin?"

"Because…" Mr D says, starting to get annoyed, " _that's_ only for children of Hermes and unclaimed demigods, and your _neither_."

"Well… can I get unclaimed?" I ask.

"Yeah sure," he says, "walk straight to Olympus and ask your mom to unclaim you. _Go for it_."

I sigh, knowing that there's no way out of this. We walk for a while until we reach it. The Athena cabin. The exterior was gray and had white curtains, above the doorway was an owl carved into the building. The same owl that was burned into my jacket.

Mr D grunts, "Well here it is kid. The Athena cabin. Welcome to the rest of your life."

Before I could say anything he starts walking off to the Big House. I take in a deep breath. _This_ is it Jet, your new official home. I open the door and I freeze. Everyone inside turned their heads… their not-so-welcoming head. They just glared at me. No _'welcome to the family'._

I look around and see how complex the cabin was compared to the Hermes one. They had a library filled with books and scrolls and a workshop full of tables and benches. The bunk beds were cast aside to the wall as if sleep wasn't a concept these people had.

"Wow, this place is pretty neat," I say.

"..."

"And it's also really… _neat_. Like organisation wise."

"..."

"Like, _neato._ "

"..."

Well this is a fun bunch.

A boy stood up from one of the benches, he had blonde hair and grey eyes… which applied to everyone else in the room. I soon realise that this was the guy that tried to screw us over (honestly his plan wasn't that great), what was his name? Malcolm.

He speaks, "So… Jet."

"That's my name. Don't wear it out, _ah-ha_." He just rolls his eyes.

"You managed to sniff out our plan," Malcolm says, for the record, I don't want to sniff anything.

"Well… it wasn't _that_ hard," I reply. His eye twitches.

"Of course it wasn't," he says, "cause your a child of… Athena." He said that hesitantly like saying it wanted to make him gag.

"Apparently I am, just like the rest of you," everyone around me was giving me the stink-eye, "without the whole Justin Bieber blonde thing. I myself am more of like a brown Justin timberlake colour going o — "

"Is everything a joke to you?" Malcolm cuts in.

"Well, depends on what you call a joke — "

"Just because your a child of Athena doesn't mean you belong here."

"Hey that's — "

"You don't belong anywhere." I'm starting to get pissed

"Now hold on just a min —" I'm trying to contain myself.

"You're useless." He pokes me.

"Hey don't poke me — "

"You're just a good for nothing — " _poke_ " — wash-out — " _poke " —_ that won't amount to _anything_ — " _shove._

For some reason that struck a nerve. Okay my turn, _punch_.

I hit him as hard as I can, my fist striking the surface of his face. He gets knocked to the ground but gets right back up. The rest of the cabin is watching in awe. Malcolm hits me with a jab then a right cross. I stumble back. _Surprising_ , no ones actually managed to one-on-one brawl with me unless they're 5 times my size. He goes for a right hook to the side of my head but I parry it with my left and punch him on the face again. Taking advantage, I kick him in the chest, knocking him back to one of the tables. I go for a superman punch (which is basically a running leap punch), connecting with his face which dazes him but he managed to tackle me to the ground, breaking the bench behind me. We start rolling around on the ground, hitting each other whenever we can. Making a mess everywhere. Everyone else was just watching, cheering on Malcolm. Why isn't _this_ the Ares cabin.

He then manages to put me in a choke hold, making me flail around on the ground. Out of panic, I grab a 3D-Model of the arena and smash it over his head, making him release me from his grip. I gasp for breath. I hear one of the kids yell:

"That took _3 weeks!"_

We both stand up, each of us on one side of the room, staring at each other. He picks up a sword from one of the beds. I look around me to find anything I can use, I only see a shield. _Welp_ , it's gonna have to do for now. I grab the shield, equipping it on my right arm. Me and Malcolm circle each other, waiting to see who strikes first. It's Malcolm. He swings his sword at me which I block with my shield. He swings at me again, and again and again, my shield taking all the blows. I stand there, forced to take the pressure.

Then the swings get weaker and slower. He's tired. _Perfect_.

The next time he swings, he's slow enough for me to catch his hand with my left. I then proceed to uppercut him with the shield. The shot was devastating. He stumbles back, dazed and groggy. I _frickin_ rung his bell. But he's still standing. We both take a moment to catch our breath. Then we charge, our shield and sword colliding. His sword was pushing in to my shield while I pushed my shield into his sword. It would've been better if we had lightsabers. We keep at it, gritting our teeth like we were biting on the hardest piece of steak known to man.

"Give. It. Up. Jet."

"Not a chance in hell."

Then the door opens and a voice screams.

" _WHAT_ the _HADES_ are you two doing!" The voice belonged to a girl with blonde hair, same grey eyes as Athena with the fiercest looking stare I have ever seen.

"I leave this cabin for 3 _YEARS_ and it's already gone to _SHIT_!" she says. We both stop, scared out of our minds. Malcolm was practically peeing himself.

"Annabeth I'm so sorr —"

"I don't want to hear it, not this time Pace." She then looks at me with the eyes of Satan (which I'm not _entirely_ sure makes sense anymore).

"Jet. Come with me." she says

"Yes ma'am." I walk out of the cabin with Annabeth, feeling the eyes of the Athena kids beaming into my soul.

There is an awkward silence as we're walking. The sky was dark, filled with stars. All the cabins were silent except for the Hermes cabin, that was playing loud music. _Gosh_ , I miss those guys.

"Just FYI. Malcolm started it," I say.

"I don't care who did," she replies, "a child of Athena shouldn't act like that."

"Well maybe I just don't 'belong' with them... or anywhere."

"That's not what I mea — "

"I know what you meant."

We walk in silence the rest of the way. We reach the Big House where I was greeted with friendly face. _Honestly,_ that's what I need right now.

Connor jumped from his seat, "Hey Jet… woah, what happened to you?"

"Fight."

"Did ye kick his arse?" Diana asks.

"Definitely."

"That's what I'm talkin' about."

Brooke whistles at us, "hey losers, get over here."

I set down my shield and reluctantly sit down.

The chairs were in a circle all facing each other. Around the circle was Me, Brooke, Clint, Connor, Diana, Nico and Will. Outside the circle of chairs, walking around us was Chiron. Annabeth was leaning up against a wall on the side.

"Now you know why we're all here," He says.

"No."

"Well, Mr Stoll. Let me inform you that it is about the… incident that happened in Capture The Flag"

Clint scoffs. I haven't spoken to Clint since that day. He's been very distant from everyone. But… I guess that's what happens when you lose a brother. Brooke took it hard too but she's taking it better now.

Chiron continues, "you were all there during the time it happened." He looks at Annabeth and gestures something to her. Annabeth walks to the centre of the circle. I look at Brooke and see her sink into her chair, slightly covering her face.

"We have something to tell you," She begins, "When Percy and I were in New rome — "

"How is Percy by the way?" Connor buts in, "You two… _getting it on_?" He starts laughing until he is stopped by a flick to the head from Nico.

"Sorry Annabeth," Nico says, "continue."

"Thanks Nico, anyways. Percy and I discovered that some romans weren't a fan of the alliance we greeks have with them. And now, we just witnessed an attack from them."

Diana speaks up, "Hold on lassie. Why are ye telling us this?"

"Because, you guys were the once that were actually there and faced them. Plus, we're not telling the whole camp. There's a possibility that some have the same idea about the Romans, therefore our trust is limited."

Everyone went silent. Annabeth continued.

" _But_ , it turns out that those very Romans were believed to be hypnotised, meaning that they're either lying or there's something more sinister than a simple feud." _Jeez_ , this is just like in a movie. Like Captain America: Civil-War. Are we gonna fight Zemo?

"So what are we going to do?" Will asks.

"Well, Solace. This is why you're here. We have decided that Percy and I can't do this alone. We'll need your help getting to the bottom of this. So… you guys in?"

"I'm in," Nico was the first to respond.

"So am I."

"Same over here."

"Let's do this."

"I'm down," I say.

"Yeah," Clint mumbles, looking at the wall.

There's one person that hasn't spoke up, Brooke. We all look at her.

"Well, Brooke?" Annabeth asks.

Brooke thinks for a moment then looks at Annabeth, "I'm in." At that moment I was ready to yell out 'avengers assemble' and play start singing the theme.

"Alright then. Well, there's gonna be two groups. One stays here at Camp Half-Blood and one goes to Camp Jupiter."

Nico raises his hand, "I'm pretty sure all of us would love to visit Percy and the rest of the guys, but might I suggest that the head counselors of a cabin stay at here."

Annabeth puts her hand on her chin, "I guess that's fair. Which means…" she looks in my direction, "Brooke, Clint and Jet will go to San Francisco. You guys will take the Argo III in the morning — " _the what_? " — Oh and I forgot to mention, you'll be taking the romans that attacked, with you."

Clint scowls but nods his head in acceptance.

"Alright, meeting adjourned. And don't forget… _no one_ must know about this. If anyone asks, just tell them Chiron wanted to talk about the _incident_ , that's all."

We all nod and start heading back to our cabins. I was going to go talk to Connor but Annabeth pulled me aside before I could.

"You wanna talk about it?" She says.

"Talk about what?"

"What happened in the Athena cabin, with Malcolm."

I sigh, "I don't know. Not really."

Annabeth tilts her head.

"Fine. He told me that I was… _useless_... ' _will never amount to anything'_. I've been told that my whole life and I guess I just — I just snapped."

Annabeth doesn't say anything for a while, then she speaks, "Look. I don't have any answers for you, whatever turmoil you have within you, that's something you'll have to overcome yourself. But just remember that you're not alone anymore. You have friends. And — though it may not look like it — you have siblings now, a family. Just keep that in mind."

She starts walking off but then turns back to me, "And Malcolm didn't mean what he said. For us Athena kids, pride gets the better of us."

"It sure does," I smile. She smiles back and walks off.

I walk back to the Athena cabin and stand outside the door, I grab the handle.

"Let's try this again."

* * *

 _ **There you go! Chapter 9!**_

 _ **I hope you guys liked it and please leave a review.**_

 _ **And if you guys are thinking that's it for Jet's backstory, don't worry there'll be more.**_


	10. Set Sail

_**Clint**_

I wait around Bunker 9 for everyone else. It was 7 am, I was the first one here. I was only accompanied by Killian and Petra: the two hephaestus kids piloting the Argo 3. They didn't know anything about our mission however. For all they know, were just transporting the romans back to Camp Jupiter. _Gods_ , those romans. I can't believe I have to travel with the guy who… who — who killed my brother. Even if it wasn't his fault, the pain is still there.

Oscar. My little brother. I failed him.

The funeral was the hardest thing I had to endure. _Hades,_ I wasn't the one that even said the speech. I was too afraid, I didn't want to accept it. So Brooke said it instead. I watched as they burned his burial shroud, I tried my best to hold back my tears but it was too much. I didn't talk to anyone else. My cabin mates tried to comfort me but it was no use. I was (still am) devastated. And the dreams are getting worse, and closer to becoming reality.

Petra walked down the ramp from the Argo 3. She was wiping her hands, which I assume was covered in oil, with a cloth. Her goggles pressing into her mohawk.

"Holy Hephaestus, Clint," she says, "your friends take their precious time don't they?"

"Petra!" a voice shouts from inside the ship, "the engines all good, the turbine just needs a few tweaks."

"Alright, Kill!"

The sun got higher and higher and the day became brighter.

Well look who it is, if it isn't the A-Team. Brooke finally got here along with the rest of the romans, Freddie and his brother amongst them.

"We're here," Brooke says.

"And I see you brought _them_ as well." I lower my voice enough so they can't hear, they were caught up in their own discussion.

"C'mon Clint. Give'em a break."

I scowl at Freddie who was talking to his brother. He didn't seem to catch my expression.

"Alright! All aboard the Argo express!" Petra shouted from the deck.

"Wait," I look at Brooke, "where's Jet —" I was cut off when I see a figure running towards us like he was being chased by 10 chimeras. He had his shield with him.

He stopped next to us, panting.

"We should — go," he says in between breaths, "like — now — right now."

"Why? We're not on a deadline." Brooke asks.

"Oh — I'm just like — really excited."

"Uh huh, okay…"

We all board the Argo 3, Petra at the helm and Killian, I assume, is down in the engine room. The ship started to lift itself from the ground, then quickly dropped straight back down. We all jumped and turned our heads to Petra.

"Sorry about that," Petra says, "Just a minor issue, easy fix."

We waited for a few minutes. We heard clanging and clinging of metal below us. After a thumbs up from Killian. Petra tried again. The ship began to lift and this time, didn't drop.

"Okay, I think we're good," She says, "sadly, we don't make'em as good as Leo."

Just before we started to leave, I see another figure running towards the already hovering ship. A group of people behind him. He was still in his pyjamas with whipped cream all over his face. He pointed directly at Jet.

"Get _BACK_ here, Jet!" the figure screamed. Jet just held his hands up innocently.

"But, you're _all the way_ down there."

The other kids below started to laugh, "He got you _good_ Malcolm." I didn't realise it was Malcolm at first because of the whipped cream.

We drifted further and further away until camp was out of sight and the constant death threats were no longer heard.

Jet was chuckling to himself.

"I thought Annabeth talked some sense into you?" Brooke asks.

"Oh she did," Jet replies, "but I still like to have some fun from time to time... _Beethoven."_ I see Brooke visibly cringe at the sound of her _new_ name.

* * *

The journey was long, and very boring too. We usually stayed on the deck (Jet says it was the one place that doesn't make him motion sick) unless we had to eat in the mess hall. The Argo 3 was a lot bigger than the Argo 2. It had everything the Argo 2 had but more. Now there was a games room with every console known to man, a theatre where we could watch any movie, an IM room, 12 cabins all with their own personal touches and of course the kitchen. With an unlimited supply of snacks. Also, a variety of defences that could arm a battleship. The romans (and Jet) were the most amazed because they never had any airships with this many facilities.

Jet was getting along really well with the romans. He hung out with them, played games (guess he didn't feel too sick in the games room) and even told stories. Later on, Brooke joined in but I just hung out around the helm.

Today was quiet day (like everyday). I walked around the deck, looking into the distance, thinking about… _nevermind_.

"Hey," I look behind me to see Brooke, fiddling with her knife. "You feeling okay?" she asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

She looks at me with her eyebrow raised, "you're great a magic, but a pretty _shit_ liar."

I sigh, "Alright, you got me."

"So, what are you thinking about?"

"Oscar."

She looks down at her feet, as if regretting she ever asked, "Oh."

"It's just — it's just that I feel like, apart of me is missing. Stolen. Oscar was… he was —" I choke back a sob, "— he was everything to me, and… I failed him."

"It isn't your fault Clint," she puts her hand on my shoulder, "and it's not the romans either."

"I know."

"If anything, it's — it's mine." I look at her surprised. "The roman was going for me but… Oscar jumped in the way. He — he saved my life." Now _she_ was starting to cry.

" _Gods,_ I think...I think he loved you." I tell her.

She hesitated to reply, she wiped tears that were pouring from her face.

"I — I… yeah," she was silent for a while, everything was. "I think I did too... _him_ not me."

I smiled, but then whole ship suddenly shook. We heard Petra scream from the helm, "Storm Spirits!" I turn my head to where she was pointing and I saw it. These tornado like figures start rushing towards us, lightning crackling threw their eyes.

"Get everybody else!" Brooke yells and I run downstairs into the hull. I'm stopped by a group of romans who were already running up with their gear. I ask one of them where Jet is.

"I think he, Freddie and Vern are in the games room."

I thank them and head towards the games rooms. I dash threw the hallways. I remembered perfectly the layout of the ship (I had nothing else to do) but it was still a bit confusing, considering this place was like a maze. I finally reach the games room and open the door.

"Dude! Will you _stop_ Bane charging me," Vern says.

"Says the guy who plays Green Arrow and spams that _stupid_ tornado bow move. At least I use combos."

Freddie was watching from behind, "Jet's got a point bro."

"Shut up, Freddie. All you play is Robin. And it's not even Dick Grayson!"

"Guys!" They all turn their heads towards me, "Storm spirits, let's go!"

They drop what they're doing and we all head back outside on the deck. It was chaos. There are a dozen storm figures attacking everyone. Some of the romans managed to kill 2 but everyone else was having a hard time. Jet, Freddie and Vern already jumped into the fray. Jet was bashing spirits with his shield whilst Freddie and Vern were double teaming a group of them. One came flying towards me. I rolled out of the way and threw a knife right at it. It disintegrated into the dust. 2 more came at me, one of them grabs me, lifting me up into the air. It was about to throw me off the ship but I drive my knife into its head. The other one tries to grab me as well but I threw another knife, making contact with it's chest.

Then one manages to push me over, I was on the ground defenceless, a storm spirit charging at me. I waited for my demise but was interrupted when the spirit got whacked by a staff. It was Freddie, he offered me his hand which I reluctantly took.

"Thanks."

I turn around and see 3 about to go for Jet. I warn him about the incoming threat.

"Kneel and position the shield above your head and push"

He looks at me with confusion, "What!?"

"Trust me."

He hesitates but decides not to argue, for the 3 spirits were almost there. He does what I told him. When I see the spirits close enough I run to Jet, I jump on his shield. He then pushes me upwards, giving me enough momentum to leap above and over the storm spirits. I pull out three throwing knives from my sleeve and throw them directly at the spirits backs. Jet looks at me in amazement.

" _WOOO_! That was _sweet_. Let's call that the… Pegasus Dive."

"Huh, not bad."

"Uh… there's more coming!" Vern points to another group of storm spirits heading this way.

"Well, _crap_. Any ideas?"

I put my hand on my chin and think. _Bingo_.

"Cover me," I say.

"What are you going to d —"

"Just cover me."

I concentrate and close my eyes, steadying my breath. I pull out two cards and hold them in-between my fingers. I whisper: _Fotiá tis orgís._ Then suddenly the cards erupt into flames. 20 fireballs all burst out and go straight for the storm spirits. The storm spirits all burn into dust. Everyone looks at me with astonishment.

" _Dang_ , that was… just wow," Freddie's jaw dropped and his eyes were wide open.

I'm having a hard time deciding whether to take the compliment but I reply with, "Yeah, you're not too bad yourself."

We hear a gasp coming from our right, " _yay_ , you guys are friends!"

We looked at Vern with blank expressions.

"Am I ruining it? Yeah, I'm ruining it."

* * *

"So what's this game?" I was in the games room with Freddie, Jet and Vern. I decided that I couldn't be miserable everyday We all huddled around a wide tv screen.

"Injustice 2," Jet answers, "it's a fighting game with characters from the DC comics."

"Yeah, pick anyone of them. I personally play Damien." Freddie hands me the controller, " just use the analog stick." I never really played games so this was a first-time experience. I look at the wide variety of characters.

Joker, Scarecrow, Batman, Wonder woman, Flash, Blue Beetle...

"Huh, Dr Fate. He looks kinda cool."

* * *

 _ **Chapter 10! I hope you guys enjoyed, and please leave some feedback.**_

 _ **Any Injustice players here?**_


	11. Dream Theater

_**Brooke**_

Pink? _No_. Taylor Swift? _No._ Maroon 5? _No._ Drake? _No_. Dream Thea — Dream Theater… Oscar always said it was the greatest band in the world. Well, let's hear it. I tap on the album.

Killian had given us non-monster-attracting-phones he's been working on for the past year. He said these were the first and was gonna give them out to the rest back at camp.

I press play and the first song that comes up is 'Pull Me Under'. The music starts. Huh… good start. The piece is really well done.

Before I know it, I start bobbing my head furiously like the music has taken control of my body.

 _Pull me under, pull me under_  
 _Pull me under I'm not afraid_  
 _Living my life too much in the sun_  
 _Only until your will is done_

 _*knock knock*_

 _Pull me under, pull me under_  
 _Pull me under I'm not afraid_  
 _All that I feel is honor and spite_  
 _All I can do is set it right_

 _*knock knock*_ "Brooke..."

 _Pull me under, pull me under_  
 _Pull me under I'm not afraid_  
 _Living my life too much in the sun_  
 _Only until your will is done_

 _*knock knock*_ " _BROOKE!_ "

I take off my earphones, turning my head to the sound of the voice. I get up from my bunk and turn the handle of the door. The person standing in front of me is one of the romans. Vern, was it? I only know his brother Freddie. At least… I think he's his brother. I can't remember all of them.

"Finally," Vern says, "I've been knocking all day."

"You — you have?"

"Yah. Now, come on, dinner's ready."

I follow him through the corridors. I see others coming from their cabins and heading towards the mess hall.

"So watcha listening to?" Vern asks out of the blue.

"Uh… Dream Theater."

"Really? You never struck me as the metal type."

"It was a… recommendation."

"Hmm… okay kay' kay', cool _cool."_

The rest of the way I had the _pleasure_ of listening to him talking about how ferrets are the greatest animals in the world (they aren't by the way). I didn't really listen as much but more pretending to. Kind of like a history class. I was about to smash my face into my violin until:

"...owning ferrets is actually healthy because of the joy and affection they bring. Ah, here we are."

Thank Gods, I don't have to listen to his ferret facts. When we open the door, I see that everybody's already here. A Long table stretches from one end of the room to the other. Windows covered the walls so you could see outside. People were stuffing their faces into their magical plates. I did see some _bizarre_ choices for a dinner. For example, one of the guys decided to eat an apple, just an apple. And I think that's... white bread? I'm not quite sure. Oh and some girl was eating a cabbage. I look around to spot any of my friends.

At the end of the table, I see Clint and Jet talking with Freddie. Me and Vern start walking towards them.

"Looks like Beethoven finally decided she was hungry!" _Gods,_ I hate that nickname but it's gonna be sticking fo a while.

I sit in-between Clint and Jet, whilst Vern sits on the other side of the table with Freddie. I got given a plate but I couldn't decide what to eat. I look at what the others had for any suggestions. Jet was just having some pepperoni pizza. _Typical_. Clint was eating chicken and rice. Freddie and Vern were both having Fish and Chips.

Hm... I think I'll go with some chicken parmesan. _Hey_ , don't judge.

I see that everyone's too busy devouring their food to talk. So I just casually eat mine. I'm still listening to Dream Theater. They're actually really good.

All of a sudden, whilst I was jamming out, Clint stabs his fork into the wooden surface of the table.

"That was _minotaur shit_ and you know it." He was glaring straight at Freddie.

"Well maybe if you didn't have a brain the size of a peanut, you could've done better." Oh no.

"Are you kidding?" Clint replies in anger. "I'm 10 times smarter than you."

"Oh yeah?" Freddie stands up from his seat, "well 10 time zero is still zero." _Wait._ Isn't he just saying that he's dum —

Clint stands up from his seat, "do you wanna settle this right now?" _Jeez_ , really? I thought that Clint had finally grown up but he still blames Freddie. Everyone else stops eating and watches the two.

"Let's go. Rematch."

I intervene. I pull back Clint and put my hand in-between both of them, " _Guys!_ What is this? Can't you guys get over what happened?" I look at Clint, "It's not his fault."

"Not his fault?" Clint asks me. "Then how the hell does he get 3 super moves in 2 minutes!"

"They were being hypno — wait what?"

"It's because you're Dr Fate is _trash_." Hold on. Dr what now?

"You know what? Come on, rematch. Let's go. I'm done eating." Clint says.

" _Same."_ They both storm of the mess hall. There was silence for a moment, but quickly after, everyone began to eat again. I stood still, in confusion. It wasn't until Jet pulls me back into my seat that I begin to speak

"So… if they weren't fighting about — then what were they —"

"Injustice 2." Vern tells me.

"Injustice who?"

"It's a game," Jet says, "we've been playing ever since the storm spirit attack."

"Oh." _phew,_ I thought it was something serious there. I just dodged a bullet.

"Can I have some of your pizza?" I look at the food on Jet's plate.

"Oh yeah ,yeah sure."

I finish the slice of pizza. Realising how long it's been since I've had pizza

"So Vern," the boy looks at me, mouth full of chips, "are you guys excited to go back home?"

"I think _excited_ is a strong word."

"Why?"

He finishes his chips, "Well, I don't think Reyna's gonna like the fact that we attacked your camp and… killed one of your members." I wince.

Vern continues, "And it also doesn't help the fact that nobody trusts us. Me and Freddie. This is just gonna give them more of a reason."

"Why don't they trust you?" Jet asks.

Vern sighs, "We were the first children of Laverna in a long time. If you don't know who that is, she's the god of thieves and cheats. They absolutely despised us when we came to camp."

"How come?"

"Well, the thing is. Before us, there were two other children of Laverna. Brothers as well. During their time in Camp Jupiter, they stole whatever they could find. Food, Jewellery, weapons, anything. What was worse was that it was during… the Great Depression."

"Woah."

"Yeah. So when they found out that there were two more children of Laverna, that were _also_ brothers. They didn't take it lightly. The only reason we managed to get through the ridicule and judging eyes was because that most of our lives, we lived on the streets. So we got used to that sorta thing."

"You lived on the streets?" I ask.

"Yeah, orphans and everything. Blah Blah sad story Blah Blah. _But_ enough about our sob story. How 'bout yours?"

"I go to bars," Jet was drinking some Fanta, "got kicked out a bunch though."

I roll my eyes at him.

"Well, I don't really have a sad story. My mum sent me to camp for a better future and in hope that I could finally see my dad. I did, and he was really cool."

" _Boring_."

"Whatever, Jet. I bet you don't have a sad story. Mr I Don't Care Who I Annoy."

"Yeah, you're right, I don't. And even if I did I wouldn't tell you, _Beethoven_."

"That just means you do have one," I say in response, "also stop calling me that."

"Hmm… no."

* * *

 _Gosh_ , I can't sleep. I twist and turn in my bed, hoping to find the perfect spot, but nothing. I look up into the ceiling thinking about many things. The quest, romans, Apollo, Oscar — _Stop Brooke_ , you've gotten over it, he's gone. It's over, there's nothing you can do. Just sleep…

 _Nope_.

I sit up from my bed, now I'm lookin into the wall. I throw my sheets over and get up from by bed. I put on a jumper. I grab my phone and plug in my earphones, so far Dream Theater has been the one thing I've been listening to all day. I pick up my knife from my desk, step into my shoes and head out.

I walk up to the deck. No one was flying right now, they had put it on autopilot (did I mention we had that?).

I look around and immediately pull out my knife when I see a man, standing in the middle of the deck. He was staring at me, his round sunglasses gleaming in the moonlight. He had his hand in the pocket of his suit vest.

"Can't sleep?" the man asks in his english accent, like a bond villain.

"Who are you?" I say pointing my knife at him.

"Well if I said that there would be no fun now would there?"

"Lemme ask again. Who are you?"

"Oh… temper, temper. Do you really think you're gonna fight me now?"

I was ready too but honestly, my body wasn't. I haven't slept all day and eyes had bags underneath them. But I wasn't about to show weakness

"Why are you here?"

He smiles but it wasn't the nice warm, cozy smile like Oscar had _(stop_ _it)._ It was a cold and evil smile, like he was devising a maniacal plan to destory the world.

"Just wanted to see how this _hopeless_ quest was going." He looks at me, up and down. "Ah… I remember quests. Was there no Oracle this time?"

I stay silent. How did he know about the quest? Did someone tell him?

"Oracle or not. It's hopeless. You're running out of time. In fact, you're late. But, you know all about being late. Don't you? Brooke."

I freeze. Being late… and how does he know my name?

"Did you like that? Your reaction says it was like a magic trick. ' _How do you know my name? Ahhhh that's amazing'._ " He smiles and chuckles slightly.

"Well, I think our little conversation was fun while it lasted and besides, you looked tired."

He smirks, "Dream Theater... hmph, good choice."

The man snaps his fingers and my eyes start getting heavy, and heavier.

The last thing I see is he pulls out his stopwatch, flicks it open and vanishes into the air. I immediately fall asleep.

* * *

 _ **Hope you liked it!**_

 _ **A review would be much appreciated. :)**_


	12. Not Welcome Home

_**Jet**_

 ** _Hey guys! Back at it with another chapter._**

 ** _Since I haven't been able to update that much, I will try my best to make the chapters longer. Hope you enjoy!_**

* * *

 _Yaawwnnn._ Boy, I did not sleep early. Well, I never do.

I just woke up (which was a pain) about 5 minutes ago. The rest of the ship was silent, no sounds were heard besides the squeaking from the engine room and the occasional thud. We had been travelling for about 2 days now. Nothing much has happened since that storm spirit attack and it's hard to keep myself busy. I had pretty much used everything on this ship in the first day. _Even_ Injustice got boring and I never thought I'd have to say that… but it's true.

 _God — or Gods?_ I dunno — why couldn't we have just taken an airplane. That's way faster, it would have only taken like 6 hours. But no… we have to take the Argo 5.4 or whatever cause it's _safer_. I mean, this doesn't even look that similar to the _actual_ Argo (Shut up, I'm not a nerd). If only we had — nope wait.

I start feeling a bit sick, as if someone was swooshing my organs around in my stomach. _Great_ , motion sickness. I should probably head outside before I puke everywhere.

I groggily begin walking through the corridors, my steps going left to right, inconsistently. It was just me. Everyone else was probably still sleeping (lucky them). It was kinda creepy and eerie, but it wasn't 'The Shining'. Well, if it _was_ the Shining then there would be no way in hell I would —

I fall backwards. I had just been smacked by a great force. When my head stops spinning, I realise that a door in front of me had just been opened. Pretty hard as well considering it had just whacked me on the nose. A guy steps out, rubbing his eyes. He looks down at me. At first confused, then starts laughing but quiet like his parents are sleeping.

"Hah, I always have the best _luck._ "

"You call that luck?" I rub my nose and stand up on my feet, meeting him at eye level.

"Waking up in the morning to find out you just slammed a door into someone's face?" he pauses, "yes."

"That is pretty lucky I guess," I mutter to myself.

"Well, I need to get going cause… if I don't… there might be puke on your shirt," I say, already walking off.

"Whatever, doorface." He says still snickering. I would've retaliated but I had my mind on other things. Trying not to puke being one of those things.

I find the stairs that lead up to the deck. I go up, each step getting worse. I step on to the deck and immediately head for the railing. I throw up right into the sky. _Phew_ , sweet release. I take in a couple deep breathes and look at my surroundings. You'd think nothing but clouds and the sun would be boring but… it wasn't.

"J — Jet?" I hear a faint voice behind me. I turn around and my eyes widen.

"Brooke?" She was lying on the deck, her eyes barely opening. I run to her side.

"The hell happened to you? Were you sleeping on the deck?"

She looks at me with confusion in her eyes and… fear

* * *

"Just tell us what happened."

We're all gathered around in the mess hall. Just me, Brooke, Clint, Freddie, Vern and a couple other romans who were awake at the time. We had locked the doors to make sure no one could get in unannounced. Our quest is still secret so we couldn't discuss around Petra or Killian. The only ones beside the inner circle that knew about the quest were the romans.

Brooke had a mug of hot chocolate in her hands. She took a few sips before answering.

"My memories a bit hazy… but," she thinks for a moment, "I remember a man in a suit-vest. He wore circular shades and he had a stopwatch."

"That's the same guy we met before we were hypnotised!" one of the romans shout out.

"Right. But what's crazy was that he _knew_ me. Like _knew_ me. _And_... he also made me fall asleep instantly and managed to vanish into thin air."

Everyone stays silent. Trying to think there way to the answer. But me? Well, I tried. But Clint. He had a full sherlock look on him. I could see his brain trying to wire through the connections.

"Hm… there's a variety of options it could be… but I got nothing," Clint says.

"Well, at least we found our main culprit. I think. But we still know nothing about him or her." Freddie chimes in.

"Definitely a him," Brooke replies.

"You don't think it could be a —" Freddie is cut off when we hear a knocking from the door, then a voice.

"Yo! We're thirty minutes from Camp Jupiter so…"

"Alright, thanks Killian!" Clint waits till he was sure Killian wasn't there, "okay we'll talk about this later, right now we need to get ready."

We all walk out of the mess hall and head back to our cabins to pack our things. It took me about 5 mins because… well I barely brought _anything_. I only packed a spare set of clothes, and some books (sssshhh I'm _not_ a nerd). I was reading lord of the rings, if you must know. After I'm done, I step back into the hallway and is greeted by Killian. His spiky hair shining from all the grease.

"Hey Jet, follow me. I got something to show you."

He leads me down a set of corridors. During the walk I try my best to avoid questions relating to our little _mission impossible_. Once we reach our destination, he opens the door to the room and it was _big_. It was stuffed with benches and workshops. Wrenches and cogs everywhere. The sound of pistons hissing dominated the room. Killian walks over to one of the tables and pulled open a drawer. He then walks back to me.

"Here, I've been working on these the whole trip."

"Uh… thanks. A pair of fingerless gloves?" I look in confusion at the black gloves that had just been given to me. I didn't want to sound rude but it was… surprising.

Killian tilts his head sideways and frowns. "Just put them on."

I put on the gloves and there a perfect fit. It also fit really well with my leather jacket. _Oh yeah_.

"Okay now, bump your fists twice with them," he instructs me.

I raise my eyebrow in confusion but still proceed to bump my fists. Twice. Then, the gloves start expanding. Leather straps wrap down past my wrists and I could feel metal padding form around my knuckles. I smile in amazement.

"Woah… this… this is _sick_ , man."

"Hell yeah it is," he smirks, clearly proud of his handiwork, "Now these are called cestuses. They are the ancient greek equivalent of boxing gloves — or brass knuckles and I made them because I know your tendency to get in a fist-fight. They were also used in the Pankration."

"That was like the greek Olympics right?"

"Yeah," he looks a bit surprised at my intellect (I get that a lot), "it's also padded with celestial bronze meaning it can kill monsters. To further prove that… bump your firsts once this time."

I do as he tells me and all of a sudden little spikes protrude from the knuckle area. _Damn_ , this guy is good.

"Ah… but it gets even better. Make an X with your arms in front of you."

"Like a 'Wakanda Forever' or a 'Wonder Woman'?"

"A… wonder woman."

When I make the X, I feel the celestial bronze from the glove start to move until it forms into a full-sized shield in front of me. My jaw drops to the ground.

" _Boom_ baby, courtesy of Killian." He puts his hand on his hips, like a superman pose and puffs his chest out.

"I — I don't know how I can repay you man."

"Nah, it's all good. This was a gift. You've been a good friend to me and everyone else."

I thank him with a smile and a handshake.

" _AH_ , you should probably retract the spikes _before_ handshaking someone."

" _Oh…_ you're right, you're right."

* * *

Standing on the deck, with everybody else. As we get closer and closer to the roman camp, Camp Jupiter I think it was, I could see buildings of shining white marble. It was beautiful, far more stunning than Camp Half-Blood (no offence). As we begin to descend, we see a group of people waiting for us on the ground.

"Camp Jupiter. Home sweet home," Vern speaks up, arms spread out, "I miss the gorgeous sight of it's buildings," everyone rolls their eyes, "It's amazing facilities and wonderful peo — _AH!_ "

Freddie pulls Vern out of the way just in time as an arrow whizzes pass his head. We all peer over the side to see what the heck was going on. And that was a _bad_ idea. Remember those group of people? They weren't waiting for us, more like bringing us down. They had trebuchets and ballistas all lined up ready to fire. One of the trebuchets fire, hitting the side of the ship with a massive boulder. Rocking the ship like crazy.

"What is _wrong_ with you romans!?" Clint cries out.

"What the _Pluto_ do you mean?" Freddie yells back.

" _Well,_ always attacking us for starters!"

"Guys! That's enough. Right now we have to stop this!" They both look at Brooke who _was_ not tolerating any of it. "We need to tell them we're the _good guys_."

"How are we supposed to do that when _we're_ up here and _they're_ down there?" Petra says.

 _Crunch_. A ballista bolt just connected with the hull. This is not good. If we don't act now, we're gonna end up like the Titanic — well, in mid-air.

"Wait! I have a spell."

" _Of course_ you do, Clint," I say.

"Just listen!" the rest of us shut up, "If you hold one of my cards, I can hover you down but I have to concentrate. Also, only one can go."

 _Thud._ A boulder just whacked the stern of the Argo.

"Come on, we have to decide! We won't be able to land this thing unless they stop firing!" Killian screams.

"We'll do it!" Brooke calls out.

"Okay, who's going down?"

"Well, your gonna need someone who _won't die_ and has a pretty big mouth," I reply.

Everyone slowly turns their head towards me. _Oh no. No no no no…_

* * *

" _No no no no_. I'm not going through that hellhole. I said someone who _won't_ die."

"You'll be fine, you can handle yourself."

"But, I don't have a _big_ mouth." Clint stares at me blankly.

"Okay, fine. But I still don't want to do this."

"Alright, Jet. All you have to do is hold the card firmly and jump straight off. I'll handle the rest."

"And what if you don't handle it?"

Clint hesitates, "it'll be fine."

"What are you laughing at,Beethoven?"

"Hm? Oh nothing." She continues to laugh, "also, is your new nickname _doorface._ " _Great._

"Shut up. That's not a thing."

"Kinda is... doorface."

"That's it."

"Jet! Focus. Listen, You'll be fine." Clint reassures. _Tries_ to anyways.

" _Okay, okay, okay ,okay…."_

I step towards the edge and take in a deep breath. _Nope_. Gah… this is terrifying. Alright Jet, you can dothis. _No you can't._

I'm the boss, I'm the boss, I'm the boss… what if I psyche myself out? Yeah, distract myself.

" _Oh look at that. Ah….!"_

I start falling, plummeting to what I was sure my doom.

"Ah...!"

But I begin to slow down.

"Ah...!"

I see the card in my hand glowing purple and my descent becomes controlled.

"Ah...?"

 _Huh_ , this is actually kinda fu — ARROW! Okay still gotta watch out.

"Ah...!"

I sway side to side to dodge the incoming projectiles and even activate my shield (thanks Killian) to block arrows. The closer I got to the ground, the more hectic it was. I begin to see romans approach my landing point. _Uh oh_. I try to yell at them.

"Hey, we're the _good guys_! We're _friendly_!" But they didn't hear me. Their gold swords glinting in my eyes.

At that moment, when I was only 20 feet off the ground, Clint decides it was best to stop _handling it_ and drops me face first into the ground. _Ow_. I quickly get up on my feet. I look to the romans who were currently charging at me. I try again:

"Stop _attacking_ us! We're _not_ hos —"

Somebody tackled me to the ground. They pointed their sword directly at my throat.

"What are you doing here!" The person wore a helmet so the voice was muffled. I could only see the eyes, they were a dark amber.

"We're from Camp Half-Blood!" I blurt out, "We're friendly! We mean no harm!"

The rest of the romans circled me, spears and swords all aiming for my face. I could still see the ballista shots and trebuchet rocks being hurled towards the ship above me.

"Why should I believe you?" the person says, "After your camp attacked us?"

"What?"

"Don't play dumb!"

They begin to pull back their sword, winding up for a thrust to my throat. Thankfully my reactions are quick. As sword beings to fall down, I grab it with my left hand and punch the guy with my right, releasing me from their grip. I kick the person off my chest and stand back up. The romans still surrounding me. The person I kicked throws off their helmet. I realise now that it's a girl. She had short, wavy, brown hair. She looks at me with a fiery look in her eyes.

" _Stop_." Someone calls out and everyone, well… stops.

I look to see two people that have pushed their way through the crowd of angry romans. A girl and a boy. The girl had black hair tied in a single braid, the guy had jet black hair swept to one side and very distinctive eyes. A… sea-green.

The girl speaks, "Legionnaires, stand down. They are not the enemy."

One of the romans call out. "But Reyna, they —"

" _They_ , did not attack Camp Jupiter. That wasn't their fault. Now, if you don't lay down your weapons, _I'll_ do it for you. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, Praetor." The mob of soldiers being to disperse, and the constant barrage of bolts and boulders end. I could then see the ship slowly descending down until it finally lands

 _Oof_ , I do not want to pick a fight with that woman.

" _Damn_ Reyna, didn't know you can be _that_ scary." The sea-eyed man says.

"Try me, Jackson."

They both look at me. They don't say anything at first but then Jackson speaks.

"You're from Camp Half-Blood right?"

"Yeah?"

"Did Annabeth send you?"

"Yeparooni."

He smiles, "Aw… Wise Girl does care about me."

Reyna snorts, "She probably sent them to make sure you don't get into any trouble."

"What trouble?" he replies.

"All of it."

"Uh… Hello? Still here, man." I wave my hand to get their attention.

They turn their heads towards me and remembered I was still there.

"Oh right sorry. The names Percy Jackson."

* * *

 _ **Tada! I hope you guys liked it. Please give me some feedback if you can! Thanks! :)**_


	13. Outcasts

_**Freddie**_

"Just concentrate."

"I know —"

"Focus on what you're doing."

"Mmhm."

"Whatever you do, don't —

"I know!"

Jet was currently being lowered down into a mob of angry romans (which is not something to look forward to) by Clint with nothing but a card. I doubt this'll work but hey, what can you do. I didn't want Jet to die. I know I only just met him but he's a pretty nice dude, made a name for himself.

"Vern!" Clint shouts out, still closing his eyes in concentration, "How's he looking?"

"Um… he's good so far, about 70 feet from the ground."

We all hopelessly waited on the deck. Having nothing to do but withstand the constant barrage of boulders and pray that Jet manages to stop them in time. I look over into the ground beneath us, and boy, it did not look good. Where's Reyna… or Frank? Surely they wouldn't allow this.

"Freddie!"

I turn my head to see Petra, the daughter of Vulcan/Hephaestus. I've gotten to know her pretty well. She had just run up from the engine room.

"Get two other people and meet me below."

I nod and she scrambles back down.

"Yomef, Rex. Follow me!"

We run down below deck. We see Killian, her half-brother, who was waiting for us. He didn't say anything and gestured for us to follow him. We end up in the engine room where Petra was already hard at work, cranking the gears.

"Thanks Fred, we're gonna need the extra pair of hands."

"Alright," she points at Rex, "You! See that little gauge meter?" Rex nods, "I need you to watch it, and anytime it gets below 50, just push the handle until it's back to normal."

"What's normal?" he asks.

" _ABOVE_ 50!" Rex jumps and skitters to the other side of the room.

She then looks at Yomef, "Help Killian with whatever he needs to do. Go!"

Killian grabs Yomef by the shoulder, "Come on, yo-yo. Let's do this."

Well, that leaves me.

"Freddie! You see that lever over there?" I look to my left and see handle attached to the side of some sort of machinery.

"When I tell you to, pull it."

"Got it."

I position myself next to the lever, waiting for the order. I watch as Petra fiddles with all these buttons and knobs. Her red tipped mohawk (which I thought always looked like a forge fire) was no longer puffed up, but was hanging down all over her head. The darkness of her skin, covered in beads of sweat.

"Okay, ready Freddie? _Huh_ , that rhymes."

"Yes it does, and ready when you are."

"And… _NOW_!"

I pull the lever and I hear a loud _clonk_. I could hear mechanical shifts in the walls and hull of the ship.

"What just happened?" I ask Petra

"The hull's been reinforced with bronze plating, should be able to withstand a couple more hits." She says, slicking up her hair again. "I also activated some of the turrets I had placed, they should either be shooting down romans or incoming projectiles."

" _Wow_ , that's pretty genius… except the whole shooting down romans part."

She shrugs, "and... you're a natural at pulling levers."

"I've been pulling lever since I was a boy," I say sarcastically.

She laughs, "Waddya mean? You still are."

All of a sudden, the constant pounding stops. The ship falls silent.

"We should probably check what's happening. I think it's over."

All of us walk back up to the deck. It seems a lot calmer than before. I could now actually enjoy the sight of New Rome… because before, flying rocks were in the way.

"What happened? Did they stop?" I ask.

"Yeah… and Clint dropped Jet." Brooke smirks with her arms crossed.

"I did n — Vern said he was only 5 feet!"

Vern shrinks his shoulders, "Sorry…"

I chuckle, "Little bro, you gotta work on your eyesight. This is the second time."

"Second time!?" Brooke says with an alarming look on her face.

"Long story."

* * *

The ship finally lands. The romans had dispersed and gotten rid of all the siege equipment. They were returning back to the barracks. As I look down, I see three people waiting for us. At a closer inspection, I could see it was Jet, Reyna and Percy.

The ramp extended all the way to the ground and everyone else starts walking down. I was about to until I see that one person wasn't.

"Petra," I call out to her, "aren't you coming?"

"Oh yeah, in a bit. Me and Killian just got some stuff to look over. Just give me a tour later, yeah?"

"Hah, sure thing." I wave at her and see her sink down into the ship.

Once we reach the bottom of the ramp, everyone was waiting for us. Reyna and Percy were standing before us. The moment she saw us, Reyna's eyes turned from annoyance to shock. This was the second or third time I ever met Percy and what I always found funny was that when Percy stood next to Reyna, there was an obvious difference. Reyna wore her universal praetor uniform, very regal and full of authority but on the other hand, Percy just wore a hoodie and blue jeans. _But_ everytime, there was always something stoic about Percy, heroic even. I mean he was… _is_ a hero.

"So this is the A-team huh?" Percy speaks.

"Oh my _gods_ ," Brooke says, her mouth wide open, "you're Percy Jackson… Hero of Olympus!"

"Um… yes?"

"I'm a huge fan… of you… you're quests… and all the stuff — you did, _ah-ha_."

"O...kay?"

"Yeah, um… you're great." Brooke shrinks back into the crowd, face palming. I hear her mutter to herself, " _everytime_."

Reyna on the other hand...

" _Freddie_ , _Vern_ ," uh oh, that's Reyna's mad voice, she was not happy to see us, "what are you and the rest doing with them? Is this where you've been?"

"Look Reyna, I swear —" I try desperately to explain but she didn't care.

She turns her head towards one of the others, "Anderson, what were you guys doing?"

He squeaked in a very frightened tone, "Long story short. We… attacked Camp Half-Blood."

" _YOU WHAT!?"_

Vern intervenes, "Ah bup bup bup, we _were_ hypnotised."

Reyna stops, "What? What do you mean? How?"

I decide it's my turn to chip in, "When we went out looking for Vern, we were confronted by a man in a suit with a stopwatch. He managed to hypnotise us, and before we knew it… we were at Camp Half-Blood."

Then Jet speaks, "Like I said before, Annabeth sent us to investigate on our little… _conspiracy_."

Percy and Reyna give each other side glances. They look as if they were communicating telepathically. After a long silence, Percy tells us:

"We should talk somewhere more private."

* * *

"Wait… so let me get this straight," Clint says, " _we_ attacked you?"

Reyna nodded grimly, "Now, it's giving more of a reason for the people to hate you. The council has been having countless meetings on deciding what to do. It's a 50/50 on whether Greeks are... _alliance material_ anymore."

Everyone stays silent, with a couple of gasps here and there. We were in one of the barracks, Reyna had it emptied and placed Aurum and Argentum to stand watch. Making sure no one was listening. The room was filled with bunk beds in a nice neat row. The interior of the building was wooden and clean. All the windows, which was currently shut, had a stunning view of the landscape. I could tell the drastic difference between here and a cabin in Camp Half-Blood.

Most of us were sitting or lying down on one of the beds. Jet was treating himself to a nice cup of New Rome coffee.

" _But_ , we found out," Percy quickly adds, "that they were hypnotised. Which also seemed to be the case for you guys."

The rest of us shifted uncomfortably.

"Though, we don't know how," Reyna says.

Me, Clint and Brooke exchanged glances.

"I think we do."

We explained all the encounters we've had with the mysterious man. We describe how he wore only a three piece suit vest and these round glasses. How he hypnotised me and Vern. How he knew things about Brooke and made her fall asleep. Clint even mentioned, though very hesitant, some of the dreams he's been having which surprised me. Meanwhile, Percy and Reyna were listening in deep thought.

"We have some guesses of who it might be," Clint finishes.

Percy scratches his head, "It can't be Hypnos, I've met him. Why would he do this?"

"Gods are unpredictable Percy," Reyna says.

"Still."

"Wait. Are they still here?" Brooke cuts in.

Percy raises an eyebrow, "Who?"

"The campers who attacked."

"Oh… yes, Frank suggested that we take care of them for now," Reyna replies, "he put Hazel in charge of hosting."

I perk my head up, "Speaking of Frank, where is he?"

Reyna crosses her arms, answering my question half-heartedly "Bogged down with praetor work. That's supposed to be _my_ job. I told him to throttle it back a little but he insisted."

"Do you know any of the campers that attacked?"

Percy grimaced, "I'm afraid so."

"Who?" Jet asks in between sips.

"Um… Clovis, Lou, two aphrodite kids, an apollo one, Connor and Diana. Who is _way_ scarier than Clarisse. Where is that mean girl by the way?"

Brook and Clint answer in unison, "College."

"Well aren't we all."

"Is that all?"

"I _think_ that's it… oh wait no, Malcolm's here too."

Jet spits out a mouthful of warm coffee, "What now?"

"Why? Is there anything —"

"Let's not get sidetracked," Clint interjects, "right now, Annabeth sent us to help."

"Right," Percy pauses, then speaks, "Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to —"

"Keep an eye out for any signs of rebellious romans, find out there motives…"

"Wow, thanks Reyna."

"...why they're acting like this…"

"Just gonna cut me off like that."

"We'll also now be looking into our mystery man..."

"Just gonna interrupt my speech."

"...clearly he's the center of all this."

Everyone nods silently, they were all serious. Until of course, Jet decides to duck underneath one of the tables.

"What?" he replies in a joking matter, "Isn't the message gonna self destruct?"

Nobody in the room except Percy laughed, "I like this guy."

Reyna just rolled her eyes, "Anyways… that's all of it. Return to the Fifth Cohort barracks, that's also where the greeks are staying."

We all start walking out until:

"Except for Vern and Freddie, we need to talk."

I could hear a couple of _oohs_ in the group of my fellow romans as they walked out like the teacher had just asked us to stay after school.

"Do you want me to go to? Or…"

"Leave, Percy."

"Gotcha."

Now only three remained in the room. Me, Vern and Reyna. There was an awkward silence for about a full 10 minutes. Reyna glaring at us with shame.

"Reyna, we can explain —"

"Explain what Freddie?" she barks, "time and time again, I've tried to trust you again and again but now, you go and do… something _stupid_ like this!"

"It wasn't our fault," Vern pleads.

"Really? Hazel told me everything. Why you were out of the Camp boundaries in the first place. You, trying to hunt monsters!"

I but in, "Hold on, don't peg this on Vern. It's my responsibility. I should have looked out for him and I ordered the search party for him."

"It doesn't matter, Jules." She used our last names, no one _ever_ uses or last name.

" _I_ tried to trust you, when no one else did," she says, " _I_ kept you around when no one else wanted to," she keeps speaking, " _I_ was the one that didn't compare you to Jax and Jayce," those names are infamous, " _I_ was the one that didn't see you only as children of Laverna."

She stops for a moment and takes a deep breath, "But now _I_ see, that's all you are."

"Reyna please, we're sorr —" Vern tries to reason with her but it's no use. She already made up her mind.

"Just get back to your barracks," she says, "and get out of my sight."

Vern still tries to speak but I stop him and drag him out of the building.

"She doesn't know what she's talking about." Vern says but I don't say anything.

"We just need to gain their trust again, easy. All we have to do is —"

" _Enough_!" I yelled, I've never been so… so frustrated in my life.

"But Freddie —"

"What do you think I've been trying to do Vern? Huh!? I've been working my ass off, day in and day out to get them to just _look_ at us without disgust."

It's all coming out now, this was the last straw.

"I. Have. Tried, Vern. But nobody cares anymore, we're thieves… children of Laverna."

I choke. I had just been hit by a heartbreaking but true realisation.

"That's all we are."

Vern stays quiet for the rest of our walk to the barracks. When we finally reached the barracks and opened the door. We could see everyone getting acquainted. Hugs and ' _hey man_ ' being passed around. I could see Hazel emerge from crowd of bodies with a massive grin on her face. She ran over and brought us into a big group hug… but it felt empty.

"So this is where you guys have been?" She says.

"Uh… yeah, it's nice to see you Hazel," Vern replies but no longer in his upbeat attitude.

Hazel frowned, "why the long faces?"

"It's been a… busy day."

"Is something wrong?"

"No," I reply, "it's fine." _That_ was a lie.

Hazel shrugs and walks back to her friends. We were once again alone. We were once more… outcasts.

* * *

 _ **Aaaaand there's chapter 13 folks, I hope you enjoyed some Freddie action.**_


	14. Dropping Eaves

_**Clint**_

After we had been dismissed by Reyna (and Freddie and Vern had to stay). We made our way to the barracks of the Fifth Cohort, which the romans gladly lead the way. Once we reach the building, I knock on the door and wait for a response. At first I hear nothing but then I hear footsteps coming to the door. The door opens and standing in front of me was the curly-haired daughter of Hades, Hazel. She looked confused at first, then her confusion changed into a massive smile.

"So that's where you dorks have been," she says looking at the group of romans who were looking embarrassed.

"And I suppose you three are from Camp Half-Blood?"

We nod, "I'm Clint, this is Brooke and Jet."

" _Hi_ ," Brooke waves, oh gods here we go, "You're… Hazel."

" _That's_ me!" She says with a smile.

"Can you actually summon any metal from the earth?" She asks.

"Of course!" Suddenly big diamond pops out of the earth, which Jet had the decency to reply with: "Shiny."

"You can also meet Arion if you like."

Brooke looks like she was about to pass out, but Jet managed to steady her balance before she could. Hazel then gestures for us to come on in. The rooms were just like the previous one where we had the meeting; wooden walls, floors, ceiling, the beds organised in a neat system. In each bunk was a camper, or legionnaire that happily greeted their fellow friends with high fives and hugs.

"Rex, you asshole! Where ya been?" One of the romans call out.

Hazel leads only the three of us to a separate room. When the door opens, we were greeted with more violent gestures than the romans. Connor, Lou, Clarence, Clovis, and Diana were all waiting for us. There were also two Aphrodite girls, Nora and Heather I think were there names. They were twins with the same blonde hair and freckles, the only difference were the eyes. One was blue, the other was brown. Clarence went straight for Brooke, who embraced him with a hug. Clovis… well Clovis was sleeping.

"Ey! Jet!"

"Connor my man, how's it —" Jet is stopped when he gets jumped on. Malcolm had just lept from one of the top bunks on to Jet and put him in a headlock.

"Nice to see you to, Malcolm," Jet says, struggling to breath.

"Remember when you stuffed my face with whipped cream?"

"Was that you? I couldn't tell."

"Oh… you son of a bi —"

At that moment, Jet escaped from his grasp and puts Malcolm in an arm lock.

"That's it, knock it off ya wee _bampots_."

Diana put herself between the two of them and held both their heads with each hand, effortlessly.

"If ya keep this up, I'll send ya straight to Hades."

Eventually the two stopped bickering.

"Wait a minute," Brooke says, "How the hell did you guys get here so fast?" _Yeah..._ how did they?

Nobody says anything, they all look at their feet until one person speaks up. It was Lou.

"We... we don't know. We were caught by surprise and then suddenly found ourselves here."

"Oh... hypnotised?"

She sighs, "yeah." They looked ashamed. They probably felt embarrased of the fact that they had no control of themselves.

"It's not your fault you know," I reassure them.

"It's fine." Connor replies. I must say, I was surprised at first to see how upbeat they were, considering they did just attack our allies, but I could see the guilt in all their eyes. They were just trying to forget about it.

"Anyways… Clint, you're here _just_ to drop off some romans?" Lou asks,snapping back to her normal self.

"Yes..." I respond. To be honest, I'm not a really good liar.

"Oh ok, so if I use a truth spell on one of them, they'd say ' _yes! We were just being dropped off by —"_

" _Okay, okay, okay._ We're here for something else."

Everybody else looks at me with questioning eyes. This quest was supposed to be a secret, no one else must no about it. Right now, the only ones in the room that know are me, Jet, Brooke, Connor and Diana. But… if the others are going to be here with us the _whole_ time, it's going to get pretty annoying. Also, Lou and Malcolm aren't that dumb.

We hastily try our best to explain the summary of everything. The quest, the mystery man, Annabeth and Percy, the mission given out by Reyna.

"So lemme get this straight," Heather says, "Greeks and Romans are having a civil war?"

"No, not yet at least," I reply, "but we have to prevent that."

Then Lou speaks, "And this mystery man, the one who hypnotised us… could be the source of all this?"

I nod and the rest of the group falls silent. They weren't expecting to be dragged into all this. And the definitely weren't expecting to end up invading Camp Jupiter.

"Now, can we trust you guys?"

The four exchange glances and nod.

"Alright then — ah… someone's gonna have to explain this to Clovis when he gets up."

* * *

We're about two days in the New Rome mission, now. We told Reyna and Percy about our new members and we also Iris messaged Annabeth about the new situation in which she replied with a:

"Keep me up to date with everything… and good luck."

We are going to need way more than just luck to pull this off. Me and Jet have been training in a secluded area in the Field of Mars since we've been here. Connor, Lou, Diana and Malcolm came to watch sometime. Clovis was sleeping.

"Let's go over it again, okay?"

"We still calling it, Minotaur Horns?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I just think that Minotaur _Rush_ is better."

Ever since we did the Wings of Icarus (the one where I jumped on his shield), we've been coming up with new moves whenever we can. We figured that we were going to be here a while and probably going to get in a _lot_ of fights.

"What's this move?" Diana asks from the sidelines.

I smirk, "You'll see."

I nod at Jet who was standing about 20 feet away from a group of practice dummies, all grouped together like a squad of demigods. He shakes his hands, jumps on the spots, gets a couple of stretches out and give me the thumbs up. I prepare my card. Jet then, at full speed, rushes straight towards the dummies. He crosses his arms into an X, making a shield appear. When he was about 10 feet away, I throw my card with deadly precision right at his shield whilst incanting the words _Kérata tis orgís._ The moment the card makes contact with the shield, it disperses and forms horns, two feet long, that attaches to the shield. When Jet charges into the group of dummies, a huge wave of energy explodes and sends all the dummies flying.

Diana lets out a low whistle, "Now that's a move if I've ever seen one mate."

"Really Clint?" Lou says, "I mean it's impressive but _that's_ what you use the Horns of Rage spell for?"

"What else would you do Lou?"

"I can think of countless ways."

I hear Connor whooping and cheering sarcastically, "Yeah Jet! Woo! Yeah, yay."

"You look like an idiot!" Malcolm yelled but in return just got a pebble straight to the face.

* * *

After a couple more hours of training, we decided it was time to wrap up and head back. On the way, most greeted us with smiles but some gave us a despising look. A couple of sneers here and there. _Yeah_ , they did not like greeks. Once we reached the barracks, we went inside the mess hall where a couple of romans were scattered around the tables. We see Freddie and Vern who were eating alone. I still don't like Freddie that much, because… well, you know. But recently we've sometimes managed to get along. _Sometimes._

"What are you losers doing all alone?" says Jet.

"Eating."

Ever since their little talk with Reyna, they haven't smiled since. I mean yeah they, _curled_ their mouth sometimes but never really smiled. She must have said something pretty tough.

"So…" Vern says, "any update on our little, mission?"

"Not much — hey have you seen Brooke?"

"Uh… yeah, she's hanging out with Hazel doing gods know what."

"Oh."

"You know, I don't get it," Connor says in to his mug, "she absolutely fangirls over the 'Heroes of Olympus' but doesn't care about me even though _I_ was there and the same generation as them."

"That's because ye didn't do anything," Diana replies.

"What do you mean!? I helped!"

"With what?"

"Anyways," Freddie speaks before it goes on any longer, "so what have you guys been doing the past two days."

"Just training," Jet replies.

"Well that's good. Can never be too pre —"

Before he could finish his sentence, something grabs his attention.

"Just excuse me for a while, I'll see you guys later."

I see him storm out of his seat and walk towards the entrance. I was at first confused to what else could possibly be catch his attention. I only see Petra enter the hall. After her, I see Percy enter the Mess as well and upon seeing us heads right for us. He sits next to us. Some blue cake appears on his plate.

"Hey guys," he says taking a huge bite of his cake, "there's something I need to tell you."

We all move in closer, being careful that no one could hear us.

"Tomorrow's, there's gonna be another Council meeting. Now, I think this is our best shot to try and explain that the Greeks mean no harm. Also, it'll be the best time to find any traitors or extremists."

"But, why would they listen to us?" Malcolm asks.

Percy thinks about it for a moment, "Well, we could have a couple of romans speaking on your behalf. I mean, think about it —"

Something stops him, something he saw in the corner of his eye. He reaches for something in his pocket, whilst still eyeing that thing he saw. He then suddenly extends his other arm and waved his hand. Suddenly, water bursts from the cups and wraps around the leg of somebody we didn't recognise. Not because we didn't know the person but because they wore a hoodie and bandana.

"This guy was eavesdropping on our little convo," Percy tells us. _Wow_ , he's good. Nobody noticed the shady guy listening from the other table but Percy.

Before we could ask anymore questions, the hooded person pulls out something from his pocket and throws it on to the ground. It blinds us temporarily, causing Percy to no longer concentrate on the water holding our suspect. When we regain our vision, we see the person already sprinting for the door.

"After the bugger!" Diana screams and we all chase after the escapee.

We would have screamed out to Freddie but he was nowhere to be seen. That _idiot,_ if only he hadn't wandered off. Instead, Connor ran ahead. He was the fastest out of all of us and managed to run ahead of the person. He tries to stop them in the doorway but the guy just slides underneath him.

" _Damn_ it!" Connor exclaims.

We all run outside. The person was ducking, pushing, weaving through crowds of romans trying to get away from us. They go around one of the barracks.

"Me and Clint will try and cut him off!" Jet screams. Malcolm joins us whilst the rest chase after the eavesdropper. We ran on the other side of the barracks where we could hear the _stops_ from the others. We see Brooke walking with Hazel but there's no time for chit chat. We run straight past her. We circle around the rectangular barracks and end up right in front of the runner. I place a card on the ground and say the words _Teíchos Dýnamis._ A gold shimmer appears in the air in front of us. The runner, thinking that nothing's there, run's straight into an invisible wall and falls on to the ground.

"Nice job, Clint," Malcolm says to my left.

The rest come running up, panting, trying to regain their breath.

"Yeah… good… job…," Vern says.

I de-cast the spell and pull the person up by the arm, I notice that they have a tattoo on their forearm. It was a stopwatch with a sword and arrow piercing through it in an X shape.

"Who are you and why were you spying on us?" Percy asks.

"Unhand me and I'll tell you," the muffled voice says.

"No."

"Then I'm not telling you."

"I'm not dumb."

"Yes you are."

"Hey!" Percy protests but the person remains silent, clearly unphased.

Percy stops, "You promise to tell us?"

The person nods. Percy thinks about it for a moment then nods at me.

"That's not a good idea," Jet says but is ignored.

I release the person from my grip and the moment I do, they pull out another one of those flash bombs and throws it on the ground. Our vision gets blinded by a flash of light and the guy vanishes like a ninja. Everybody groans, in annoyance.

"Well… you blew it."

Percy frowned, "Oh yeah… you think I don't know that Jet? What are you, a child of Athena?"

Everyone stays silent, "I am actually. So I know something dumb when I see it."

"Of course you do."

"You know, I wonder how Annabeth deals with you?"

" _Pfft_ come on, I'm irresistible."

"Well, at least we can identify the person," I say

"Wait, how?" Vern asks.

"He or she had a tattoo. A stopwatch, with an arrow and a sword stabbing through it like a X."

Vern folds his arms, "you think it has anything to do with our mystery man?"

"Definitely."

Percy paces back and forth for a couple of minutes while we watch, his hand on his chin. He then stops.

"Well… I think that's a wrap for today, get some rest," he says, "we've also got the meeting happening tomorrow and we can't forget that."

We all agree and start heading back to our cabins — I mean barracks. On the way there I see Freddie heading back too. _This_ guy. I decide to go talk to him. As I approach, I could hear him whistling.

"Yo, Freddie," he stops and looks at me, "Where in the underworld have you been? We could've used your help earlier."

"Oh… soz."

"Well, tomorrow is the council meeting and we're going. It's a pretty big deal if were trying to stop a civil war, so just get your head in the game."

"Right, right."

"Where did you go anyways?"

This apparently made him snapback to reality, "Oh… nothing, I promised Petra I'd give her a tour of Camp Jupiter so I kept it."

"Mmhm."

I decided that I couldn't be bothered interrogating him anymore. And was it just me or did Freddie have an actual… smile.

* * *

 _"Remember, Remember._

 _They killed your brother, your beloved Oscar..._

No.

 _...It's all their fault, all their doing."_

Stop It.

 _The horrible scene repeats, Oscar being stabbed constantly in the chest._

 _Me, standing helplessly over his bleeding body. Once again, Camp is on fire, my friends burning alive._

It's not real.

 _Romans slaying everything in their path._

 _"Remember, Remember."_

 _Oscar appears in front of me and speaks._

 _"Remember, they deserve to die!"_

I wake up in the middle of the night, startled. Only one thing on my mind, one thing that constantly pops up:

" _Freddie._ "

* * *

 ** _Thanks for reading. This was a pretty fun chapter to write._**

 ** _I hope you enjoyed_** ** _and please leave a review!_**


	15. Remember

_**Brooke**_

"How did you meet Arion?"

"Well I —"

"Do the Amazons really run _Amazon_?"

"They do —"

"Does Frank's life really depend on a stick?"

"Well yes, but —"

"Did Annabeth and Percy really fall into Tartarus?"

"Okay… I think that's enough questions for now."

 _This is great_. I'm talking to one of _the_ Seven that saved the world. What's even better is that I didn't completely embarrass myself with Hazel like I did with the others. Hazel actually showed me a bit of Camp Jupiter and told me some of her stories. I even got to meet Arion! At least she doesn't think I'm annoying… right?

"What about you Brooke?" Hazel asks.

"Pardon?"

"I said, what about you?"

I froze for a moment, no one's ever really asked that before. I'm talking to one of the greatest heroes of all time and she wants to know about me?

"Well, I mean… my last name's Avondale… I'm a _complete_ music nerd… I think Apollo is great… _yada yada_."

"Ah, ok," Hazel says with a shrug, "But what about your life _before_ being a demigod."

 _Woah,_ okay. Now _no one_ has ever asked that before.

"Honestly… fairly normal. I think I'm the only demigod ever to say that," I continue, "My mom knew all about the gods, the monsters and everything. She sent me to Camp when I was 14, so I never really got to graduate high school. And I _do_ have a good relationship with her."

" _Someone's_ lucky," Hazel chuckles.

"I guess I am."

"Oh…. I got one," she grins, "anyone… special in your life, _huh?_ "

I stop walking. I hesitate to answer the question and a painful memory repeats in my head.

"I… I — _did_ …"

I could see the smile wash away from her face, into instant regret.

"Brooke. I'm sorry I didn't mean to —"

"It's okay," I wipe a tear from my face.

Her feet shuffle from side to side, she starts looking at random things in different directions. It was getting _awkward_.

"Well look," she stops moving, "if you need anyone to talk to, I'm your girl."

I smile in return. It feels good to have someone comfortable to talk to, even if we just met yesterday. I felt _comfortable_ around Hazel. We continue walking through New Rome, talking about a lot of things. Quests, food, life, parents, demigods, how annoying boys are. We stopped at the Garden of Bacchus for a while. It was peaceful… until of course, Connor decides to join us.

He looked like he had just ran across the entire Camp, trying to find us.

"Brooke… thank gods," he pants, "come… now… please."

"Why? What's wrong?" Hazel asks, getting up from her seat.

"Clint… mad… attack… Freddie… _Jeez_ I should do more cardio…"

" _WhatI?"_ I look at Hazel who looked back at me with worry.

"Come on, let's hurry."

We begin running back to the barracks.

"Yeah… it's fine… I'll catch up… just… need a… break… _hooo_ …"

When we reach the barracks, the damage had already been done. Benches were broken in half, there were holes in the wall, there was even a little fire going on one of the bushes. The scene in front of me was even worse. Clint was running around, casting spells, throwing knives at Freddie who just manages to block them with his staff. The knives would stick to the staff but ultimately disappear and reappear in Clint's hand. Clint was in a frenzy.

" _Clint!_ " Freddie calls out, "what the hell has gotten into you man?"

"You. Killed. _OSCAR!_ "

Seriously!? We're back to this. I thought Clint had gotten over it by now.

I frantically look at the others just standing around, "Somebody get Reyna and Percy!"

Everyone begins running to the Principia. Once they're out of sight I turn around and they were still fighting. My demigod senses kick in. I run to the aid of Freddie. As Clint's blade comes down, I deflect it with my knife, then kicked Clint back far enough so that Freddie was out of his reach. I'm not trying to hurt Clint (even though I want to).

"Clint, the hell is wrong with you! It wasn't his fault."

"You of all people, Brooke… to stand in my way?" He looked me straight in the eyes, but something was different. His eyes weren't the same, like something has taken over him. He wasn't his normal self.

He summons two swords, one in each hand and leaps at us. We try our best to fend him off. Blow after blow, parry after parry, the fight keeps going. But Clint was relentless. How was this possible? It's like he doesn't feel anything… exhaustion, pain. Like something was controlling him, driving him. He's definitely fighting better than he usually does. I look around quickly for anymore help, but everyone was gone. They all left to get help, even Hazel wasn't here.

I keep fighting. Clint strikes down with one of his swords, I evade it. Clint thrusts at Freddie, he blocks it. It goes on like this until the worst happens… Freddie slips.

He loses his stepping and Clint takes it as an opportunity. He slashes both of his swords at Freddie's staff, which wasn't enough to break it, but to slap it out of his hands. He then hits Freddie with the butt of his sword, knocking him unconscious lying on the floor. I yell, I couldn't help it. Clint pushes me back and begins walking over to Freddie's limp body.

"Clint, stop!"

He doesn't answer. I run in front of him, putting myself in between him and Freddie.

"This isn't you!" I scream at him, but he doesn't flinch.

"This isn't about _me_. This is about Oscar."

I couldn't help it, I get mad, "You're _not_ the only one who loved him, you know! I did too!"

"Then you'll get out of my way."

"Not gonna happen," I punch him in the face as hard as I could, then kick him in the chest, knocking him back 5 feet.

" _Fine_!" he shouts, "looks like you're gonna die _with_ him."

He charges at me, this time with full rage. I couldn't even recognize his face anymore. I knew I couldn't block this attack. I knew he was gonna overpower me. I know that I don't have the strength left to stop him…

But I stood my ground anyway. Because there's one thing I'm sure of… he was _not_ fighting for Oscar. I stand there, waiting for (possible) doom. Mid-run, Clint leaps with both swords over his head and I place my knife in the way, hoping to block it but I know it won't. I close my eyes. All of a sudden I hear a loud ringing noise and I get pushed back to the ground by a wave of energy. What in hades just happened?

" _Go_."

I look up and see Jet, gritting his teeth, struggling to keep Clint at bay with his shield. He had just taken the full brunt of his attack. Next to me, I feel a hand on my shoulder. I turn around and see Reyna, standing over me.

"Get up," she tells me. I look around and see that everyone else was here too. Vern was helping Freddie up and the others were trying to fix the chaos. Reyna starts ordering commands to a bunch of romans. Percy came as well. Percy was extinguishing all the fires. I look back to see the fight with Clint and Jet was _just_ managing to hold him off.

"Come on, Asher…" Jet says whilst gripping one of Clint's sword, "We're buddies right?"

Clint just responds with grunts. They keep fighting. Jet was mainly on the defensive, keeping his shield up as Clint viciously hammers down on him. Then, on one of Clint's swings, Jet manages to catch his sword and punch him right in the chest. Clint, with only one sword remaining, prepares to charge at Jet again until something strange happens. The two stop what they're doing as they hear a loud roar. I see Hazel run to my side.

"I decided to get some help."

All of a sudden a massive gorilla comes out of nowhere and snatches Clint, causing him to drop his sword. Clint tries to wriggle his way out but he was in a gorilla death lock. Immediately, without hesitating, I run over to Clint.

He starts muttering words, "Remember…. They deserve to die…. They killed Oscar." It sounds as if someone else was saying those words, not him.

"Clint?" I say but he just responds with a growl. His eyes still blood red. We aren't going to solve this by talking.

I pull out my violin and start playing a nice, soft melody. I focus all my music on Clint, making sure he hears all of it. And soon, Clint begins to calm down. He stops struggling. His breathing starts to steady at a constant pace. I could see his eyes begin to change, back to normal. Then after I finish playing, he immediately falls asleep.

" _Weird_ ," I say, "that wasn't supposed to make him sleep."

The gorilla, seeing that the situation has de-escalated, releases Clint from his grip. What happens next is that the gorilla… turns back into a human. A large and stocky human, Asian no-less and he also had black hair — wait… _of course_. This must be Frank. Although, this time I don't fangirl because it's not really the appropriate time right now.

"Woah… you can turn into a monkey?" Jet asks.

"A gorilla actually," he replies, "I can also turn into other things."

"Cool."

Percy and Reyna run over. Looks like they finished cleaning up the mess. They looked surprised to see Frank.

"Oh hey Frank," Percy says, "Thanks for the assistance."

"No worries."

"Hmph, I thought you'd be too busy," Reyna says mockingly.

"I _was_ … but Hazel forced me to."

"Well, you needed the break. Plus, protecting the Camp is one of the jobs as a praetor."

"You guys had it handled."

We all look around, to see burned shrubbery, tables and benches littering the ground, also a massive hole in one of the barrack buildings.

"Right…" Percy says.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading this new chapter!**_

 _ **If you think this chapter was too short, don't worry. I'll be posting the next one soon.**_

 _ **This is kind of like a part 1 of 2**_

 _ **Anyways, hope you enjoyed and please leave review :).**_


	16. Not This Time

_**Brooke**_

Me, Jet, Reyna, Percy, Frank and Hazel all sat in one of the rooms in the Principia. And I gotta say... Romans never cease to amaze me. The walls were a shiny, white marble and the ceiling was a mosaic image I wasn't familiar with. Purple banners with the insignia S.P.Q.R. were hanging on the side.

We all surrounded Clint who was sitting in a chair, sipping on some hot chocolate. Freddie was in the infirmary and everybody else was trying to fix the mess outside, Killian had offered to help with the repairs. I didn't know where Petra was though.

"So... you don't remember anything?" Frank says.

"Well, I _remember_ but it didn't feel like me," Clint says, "like I was watching someone _be_ me." He didn't dare look anyone in the eye, instead he just looked at his drink.

"What happened anyway?" I ask.

Clint takes a sip of his hot chocolate, "I think I had this dream, the other night. It was… about Oscar."

I see Jet glancing at me in the corner of my eye but when I turn to look back, he immediately turns away.

"And?"

"And the next thing I knew, I was burning down the whole place."

"These... dreams. You said you've been having a lot of them?" Percy asks.

Clint nods, "And they all have the same theme... Romans."

Percy puts his hands on his hips, he didn't know what to make of this. "But it can't be Hypnos…," he mutters then shakes his head, "Ok, we'll discuss this later. Right now, we have a council meeting later tonight and we need to plan with the rest of the group."

"Alright," Clint gets up from his seat, "Let me get ready."

Percy and Reyna look at each other, "Uh... maybe not yet, Clint," Reyna says, "you should sit this one out."

"Why? I'm good now. No need to worry about me."

"We believe you, it's just that we're trying to get them to _not_ hate Greeks and you caused quite a buzz on that frenzy earlier. They took notice… hypnotised or not."

Clint tries to protest but ultimately fails. He hangs his head in shame. Percy and Reyna leave the room. Clint sits back into his seat and takes more sips of his hot chocolate.

"Cheer up _Dr Strange_ ," Jet says, "You had no control."

" _Exactly_. I was a complete idiot," he says, " _once again_ , my feelings for Oscar took over…"

"Hey, there's nothing to be ashamed of," Frank says, "Losing family is something you'll _never_ get over, believe me I've tried."

Clint doesn't say anything

"Also… I have dealt with my fair share of possession."

"You've been possessed before?"

"No... but my friend has. And it _sucked_. You're lucky we still like you cause I didn't like him and let's just say, it wasn't pretty."

Clint sighs, "Thanks guys, but I need to think about this for a while."

He leaves the room and soon, so did Frank and Hazel. Leaving only me and Jet, who was staring at me, but not in his usual dumb face.

"Well, we should probably get goi —"

"You know… you never really told me your deal with Oscar," he stopped me mid sentence, "Clint's his brother, I get that. But you…"

He shrugs, "I have no idea. I mean, everytime his name is mentioned, I see the pain on your face."

I don't reply.

"Don't think I don't notice. I'm not dumb you know."

"It's… complicated."

"Come on, I'm your _friend_ , Beethoven. I _am_ here… and useful…" He said that last _useful_ quietly, like that word carried more weight than it should have.

Jet raises his eyebrow and stares at me for a minute, like waiting for me to start explaining everything. But I don't.

He sighs, his face blank, "You don't trust me, do you?" I see a slight frown on his face, "it's fine, nobody really does."

Then he walks out of the room without a word. What was that all about? And, what did he mean at the end? _Of course_ I trust him, he's saved my life countless times. Just, this topic wasn't really one I want to share — and many other topics. It's probably my turn to leave the room now, besides… we've got a council meeting to crash.

— well not _crash_ but… attend.

"All right team, Operation Save Our Friends, is a go."

Everybody groans. We we're going over the plans about our little council meeting night. Everyone was here except Frank and Reyna (cause they're part of the Senate), and Freddie was in the infirmary, Vern was with him. Petra and Killian aren't here but they don't count because they still don't know. They still think we're here for a nice visit, though suspicions have rose.

"Couldn't ye pick a better name, Lochness Boy?"

Percy looks offended, " _Yeesh_ , alright… so mean."

"How bout' operation 'Civil-War'" We all turn our heads to Clovis in surprise. He wasn't asleep this time.

"That's… not bad actually," Percy nods, "Operation 'Civil-War' it is."

Everyone else nods in agreement.

Percy then begins explaining how the night is going to go. The Senate is going to consist of the two praetors (Frank and Reyna) and the centurions from each cohort. Nico used to be a senator but he resigned. Also, apparently there used to be a stalker… blogger… Augur? I don't know, he just said that he was a massive dick.

Anyways, the Senate will be discussing the plans of action Camp Jupiter should take after the attack. Percy specifically said, that there's no bias choice, it's all up to majority vote. Which means Frank and Reyna have to go with majority rules… whatever that may be. What goes, goes. He said it was currently a 50/50, but things were starting to sway to the 'screw the Greeks' side. Clint's little rampage no doubt, probably helped.

Also, we're going need some romans to speak on our behalf so that it's not completely just Greeks vs Romans. Preferably the romans that got to know us more. You could even call them friends. Three volunteered.

"Okay, now we're gonna need a voice for the Greeks. Only three."

"Wait — wait — wait. Aren't we _all_ just going to speak?" Connor asks.

"Yes… and no," Percy continues, "you see, not _everyone_ can just start throwing out arguments, there needs to be a representative. That's just how Roman democracy works."

"That's stupid," Connor grumbles.

Percy ignores him, "So… any volunteers?"

Nobody raises their hands.

"The thing is… Clint is usually our spokesperson," Clovis says.

"Well, he ain't here," Percy replies.

"I'll do it," Malcolm raises his hand.

"That's one."

"Me too —"

"No…" Clarence says, "sorry Connor, but this ain't your strong suit. I'll go."

"Good idea. Okay one more," Percy surveys the crowd, "how about you? What's your name, again... Brooke!"

 _Freeze_. Stop. Pause. Rewind. I did not just hear him say that. NO way am I going to do that. I can't speak before the council.

"No… no… no — no —no. I am _not_ volunteering."

"You are? _Great_. Any objections? No? Okay let's move on."

"Hey! Wait a minute!" No one pays attention to me, the decision has already been made. I think I'm going to be sick.

" _Psst_ ," I look over my shoulder and see Clarence whispering to me, "you'll be fine, don't worry. I'm right there with you."

He smiles and I force a smile back. Clarence always did try to cheer me up, usually it works. But it didn't this time.

I look over to Jet who was on the other side of the room. I waved at him before but he didn't seem to notice. Or maybe he did but he didn't care. He's been silent the entire time, which was odd.

"So… now for the rest. The… security detail you might say."

"Wow, Percy. Using big words," Lou Ellen mocks him.

"Shut up."

He sighs and scratches his head, "We have 10 romans, not including Freddie and Vern, and 6 Greeks. And nowhere to put'em."

Jet (finally) speaks, raising his hand in a very student-like fashion, "Excuse me, Mr Jackson."

"Uh... yes. You. Gods I'm crap with names.

"What if we had three groups."

Percy raises an eyebrow, "what do you mean?"

Jet clears his throat, "Well, before, you also said this would be a perfect time to rat out any anti-greeks — slash — traitors right?"

"Yes."

"So… we have a group of 4 _inside_ the building, within the crowd, looking for any sus actions —"

"And we have 4 _outside_ looking for the same thing," Malcolm joins in. Jet looking surprised.

"What about the other 8?"

"Well, they could be on stand-by for when ' _shit hits the fan'_. Probably somewhere patrolling outside."

"That way we cover all our bases!" Malcolm's eyes widen, "We eliminate any threats on the inside —"

"And… on the outside," Jet grins.

"But when things go _wrong_ —"

"We have a backup of 8 ass-kicking demigods waiting!"

The two high-five and for once actually share a friendly moment.

"Um… what just happened?" Connor says in pure disbelief.

" _Nerds_ ," the two aphrodite twins snicker in unison.

The two realise what they had just done and freeze for a moment. They both start fake coughing and look away from each other. Wiping their hand on their clothes like they touched mouldy brown cheese on the ground. Not making any eye-contact, pretending like nothing happened.

"Okay. We have a plan," Percy says, "a _good_ one for once. Now, the 6 volunteers, you got about 2 hours to come up with something to convince the council. Good Luck."

"Hold on," someone calls out, "what are you going to do."

"I'm going to be in the audience, I can't be with you. That's why I'm preparing you now."

"Well, where are you going now?"

"To… study."

My eyes widen in surprise, I think a couple others did too.

"Hey, I'm still in college."

I hear a few gasps throughout the room. A lot of us here are pretty young and the idea of college is a concept we haven't quite wrapped our head around.

After Percy left... Me, Clarence, Malcolm and three other romans (who I learned were Anderson, Rex and Tonya) walked into a seperate room in the barracks.

 _No turning back_ , I tell myself. This is it. I am not going to bail and freak out… not this time.

We begin to discuss what kind of arguments we would use.

Well, I say _we_ … but more like _they_ , came up with them. We actually managed to use the 2 hours wisely and came up with some pretty good points. It was agreed that two people (a greek and a roman) would present an argument. So it would be Clarence and Anderson first, Malcolm and Tonya second, then me and Rex third. After we finish planning, Clarence pulls me aside when everyone else begins to leave.

"Is there anything you want to tell me?" He asks.

"Um… good luck?"

"C'mon Brooke, don't play dumb," he says quite annoyed, "one minute you were scared to death of the idea of doing this, now you're completely up for it?"

"Well… I gotta do this for Camp," I respond but Clarence ain't buying it.

He sighs, "Brooke, I _know_ you. Now what's going on."

He's being persistent, he's not giving up. There's no point in trying to hold back. I've held it back long enough.

"I'm _not_ going to sissy out, not this time."

"This time?"

"I never commit Clarence! I'm always… late." I remember the words the stopwatch man told me. ' _You know all about being late'._

Clarence pauses for a moment, then speaks, "What do you mean?"

"I'm… always _too_ _late_ , Clarence. I'm always too late to commit to things that matter."

Clarence still doesn't look like he understands.

"Look," I take a deep breath, "the first time I came to camp I didn't make any friends. Everyone offered but I refused. Why? I wanted to be alone. _But_ , when I decide to finally try… I'm too late. People are too busy, they've got other things to do. It wasn't only a month later I finally made friends with you guys."

"Okay…"

"And — and when Apollo, reached his hand to me. Claimed me, gave me gifts, gave me my _first_ violin — I still didn't bother to believe in the whole Greek Pantheon. I still didn't want to _accept_ the fact that my world had just changed. _But_ , when I finally decide to give it a try, reach out to Apollo, ask for guidance, pray to the Gods… I got no reply. Again, late."

"But didn't dad visit you though?"

"Yes, but it took him a while. Something about roman split personality or something… I don't know."

"Oh yeah."

"And… when I finally decide to try out for a relationship... with someone who loved me…" My voice trails off, I didn't want to remind myself again.

Clarence seemed to get the idea.

"So…" I say, still struggling, "that's why, I'm _not_ going to take the cowards way out. I'm _not_ going to be 'too late'."

Clarence remains silent, but acknowledges with a nod. I thank him and we both start heading towards the Senate House.

No pressure. If we fail, we will probably cause a Civil-War… but no pressure.


	17. The Senate Night

_**Jet**_

 _I'm_ _useful_ , I'm not worthless, I'm not a disappointment — oh come on Jet ol' boy snap out of it. That's crazy talk. But why doesn't Brooke trust in me? — no… stop. Right now, we have to worry about stopping a Civil-War… a Captain America Civil-war, huh?

The meeting had just been announced and everybody was piling into the building, grabbing seats. I had been tasked with surveying on the _inside_ , with Connor, Lou Ellen and Diana. We decide to spread out and take different spots in the assembly, just so we could cover more ground. Once we find our positions, we wait. And wait, and wait, and wait… wait.

And… I'm bored. How do cops do stakeouts? _Yikes_.

I try to look around to see anything suspicious. What am I looking for any ways?. An illegal ambrosia deal? I peer my head closer in to peoples conversation, trying to hear what they're saying and see if they give any clues. Nope, _nada_.

The assembly starts, everybody around me stands up. The senators all filled in to their white marble seats. I see Reyna and the gorilla man, Frank I think it was, take the middle seats. They all wait until there is absolute silence. Then Reyna speaks.

"This is council number III on the discussion of the Greeks. We may begin."

Everybody then sits down.

"Now, in previous meetings we agreed on the matter of…" _Boring_. I just tuned it to white noise at this point. I continue my search for anything out of the ordinary.

Nothing...nothing...nothing...noth — wait, who's that? I see a hooded figure enter the assembly and take a seat in one of the more crowded areas. They immediately start talking and whispering to people. I begin to stand up from my seat until I hear:

"The representatives will now present their case."

6 people walk up to the marble podium (everything here is marble) and stand before the Senate. Brooke, Malcolm and Clarence with three other people I didn't know, all standing there. I wasn't going to miss this.

One of the senators speak, "Now, you're here to prove the Greek's innocence, correct?"

"Yes," says Malcolm.

"And these three romans are accompanying you?"

"Yes."

"Alright then, proceed."

"Thank you, Senator," Clarence says, he goes first, "As you know, 4 days ago…" wait they got here four days ago? Before us? "Your Camp was attacked by, well, us."

"Yes, _we_ are aware."

"But, I assure you, Camp Half-Blood, has no quarrel against Camp Jupiter, we were under some kind of hypnotism and unintentionally invaded your camp."

The roman beside him steps up, "Senator Hank, I am Legionnaire Anderson of the Fifth Cohort and I speak for representative Clarence." Why is everyone speaking so posh?

Senator Hank nods.

"What he says is true, Senator. For the same thing happened to us, causing us to attack Camp Half-Blood."

I hear a few murmurs in the crowd. He turns back to his fellow senators and break into conversation, after a minute or so a woman speaks up.

"We have acknowledged your argument but it is still not enough to convince us of your innocence. There is not enough concrete evidence of your... hypnotism."

Reyna stands up from her seat, "Come on, Leila, do you really think they would lie?"

There are some nods and agreements in the audience.

"I understand your concern Senator Reyna but we must be absolutely sure."

She sits back down in her seats, arms crossed.

"For all we could know, _they_ could have hypnotised us Romans for an excuse to attack us."

A dark skinned girl, with shoulder-length curly hair shoots up and shouts across the room, "Oh come on, Larry, you know that's _bullshit_!"

"Of course _you_ would side with them, you are practically one of them."

"What are you trying to say?"

All of a sudden, the Senators burst into argument, taking sides, Greek or Roman? It was actually kinda funny. The rest of the audience just watched in awe. You know, for people who pride themselves in order and government… they're pretty uncivilised.

"This happens all the time." _Huh?_ Who was that? I turn my head, but don't see anybody.

"Over here." They tap my shoulder and I realise that it was a girl, sitting directly behind me. She had short, brown wavy hair. Kind of like Rapunzel's hair after it got cut in Tangled. Anybody? Am I the only one 18 yr old that still watches disney movies? Okay.

She also had these amber eyes — wait a minute. This is the girl that attacked me when I jumped off the Argo.

"Um… hi?" I say to her.

"You look familiar, weren't you that guy that was being chased by Aurum and Argentum?"

"Uh…"

 _ **Flashback**_

" _Bad dogs! Bad Dogs!"_

 _I run through the streets of New Rome, those killer dogs chasing after me. I run past a cafe and see a girl, who was sitting at one of the tables enjoying a nice nespresso, watching the whole ordeal. I give her a quick smirk then return to running for my life._

 _The deadly sound of mechanical dogs barking behind me._

" _Hey — watch the… ahhh!"_

 _ **End of Flashback**_

"Oh… yes."

She scoffs, "Right, you were _that_ guy."

"Hey! You were also _that_ girl that attacked me when I landed into Camp."

Her face freezes for a moment, like trying to retrieve a memory.

" _Oh yeah_ … I was, and I tackled your Greek ass to the ground."

"Excuse me, I socked you right in your Roman face, remember?"

"Hm... you did," she says, " _touche_."

I was about to say something until something suspicious (oh my god, finally) happens in the corner of my eye. That same hooded figure that came in before stands up from his seat and starts leaving. Usually that would be completely normal, but he was checking over his shoulder every so often, like making sure no one was watching him. Now, I stand up from my seat and heading towards his direction.

"Where you going?" the girl asks.

"Just… going to get some fresh air."

"Sure you are…"

I didn't have time to explain any longer, the hooded figure was already almost out the building.

I tail him, being discreet as possible. Making myself not look so obvious. Hohoho now _this_ is Mission Impossible. Like a secret agent, moving through the shadows. Completely undetec —

"You're so obvious."

I turn my head and see Lou Ellen walk up next to me.

"When you're trying to tail someone, be more discreet."

"You saw the guy too?" I ask her.

"Of course I did, saw him before you did."

"How would you know?"

"Because I do."

I don't bother to argue and continue following this hooded figure. We tail him for a while. We are literally outside right now. All of a sudden he peers over his shoulder and begins to speed up. He turns into an alley, right out of our sight. We jog to the alley he just entered and looked to see him in full sprint, running away. _Crap_. I begin sprinting after him.

"I'll go and get the others!" I hear Lou Ellen call out. _Yay_ , now I have to catch him alone.

The chase is on. I'm running after this guy who was going at full speed. They push down debris to stop me. Trash cans, chairs, benches, hell even a cat at one point. Hey, New Rome is a big place. The runner starts pushing through crowds of people and knocking down a few. Me, cause I'm a gentleman, runs around them and even helps a few up. This little routine goes on for a while until he makes a hard right and rushes into a building. I rush in after him and is greeted to a bar — or since this is Rome… they probably call it a 'drinking facility'.

The inside was all wooden, unlike the outside which was marble (again with the marble). It was quite bustling, the waiters had about 6 wine glasses on one tray and the bartender was working hard to produce them. Everybody looks at me for a while, then immediately goes back to their wine and foods. The guy was nowhere to be seen. I know he's still here, just blended into the crowd. Well, there's no point in frantically searching everywhere, they ain't going nowhere. So I observe. I see no hooded figure, probably because he/she took off the hood.

 _Oooooh_ a Jukebox.

I walk over to the Jukebox and look through their collection of songs. Queen, Bon Jovi, ACDC, Drake, Adam Levine, Post Malone. Wow, they got all the generations. I keep looking and… what's this? ' _Spiderbait - Black Betty'_. Huh, good song.

I preferred the Ram Jam version but this one was still really good. I pick the song and the music starts playing throughout the room.

At that moment, when my back was turned, somebody jumps at me. The music still blaring loudly.

They slam me on to one of the tables, breaking the table and the glasses on it.

Well, this ain't my first bar fight. I shove him off me and kick him back a few good feet. I bump my knuckles twice, my gloves transform into the weaponised cestuses. The dude stands up and pulls out his sword, entering a fighting stance.

"Let's dance."

He swings at me but I move out the way, directly after I punch him straight in the gut making him keel over. I then knee him in the face, his head whips back, nose bleeding. He looks pissed. This guy doesn't look like much of a fighter. He grabs a glass on the table next to him and throws it at me. I activate my shield and hear the glass shatter on impact. All around people were either freaking out, or jamming to the music. It _is_ a good song.

As soon as I retract my shield, the guy pops up right in front me and slaps me across the face with the butt of his sword. He then swings his sword in a downward stroke, but I catch it and uppercut him. Again, knocking him back.

I even start singing along to the song, "Whoa Black betty, Bam-ba-lam , Whoa Black Betty…"

The guy stands up, infuriated.

I taunt him, "You know… maybe you should practice more, you'll get there."

Screaming, he charges right at me, sword overhead. I just side-step and trip him using his momentum. He falls face first into the ground, a couple of laughs littered the crowd watching.

"You know what, I'll make this fair. Here," I bump my knuckles twice again and turn my Cestuses back into normal gloves, "Completely disarmed."

He swipes at me sideways and I just duck, stepping to the left and hit him with a one-two punch on the side of the rib cage. He clutches the side of his body in pain. I wait. He swipes at me again, I duck to the right this time. Then I punch him in the stomach and then hit him with a hook right across the face. I must've hit him pretty hard because he fell straight on the floor.

The music ends and silence fills the room. I can only hear the grunts and moans from the guy lying down in front of me. He starts getting up, very slowly.

"Listen," I say, "it's over, give up, we just wanna ask you a few questions."

He looks me right in the eye, full of hatred. He then looks down at his sword.

"Screw this primitive crap," he tosses it to the side and reaches for something in his jacket… a gun. A _what!?_

I raise my hands above my head, "whoa… the heck man, where the hell did you get a gun?"

"Not so tough anymore, huh?" he chuckles, "just a demonstration of what _he_ could do."

"Who's he?"

"I'm not gonna tell you that." he thinks for a moment, "But... you are gonna die anyways, so I'll give you the satisfaction. His name is —"

He freezes. He drops his gun and looks down to see a spear head protruding from his chest. He closes his eyes and lets out a last breath, his body limply falls to the ground. Standing in his place with a bloodied spear, was the girl I had met earlier. I yell.

"What'd you do that for!"

"A thank you would be nice."

"You _killed_ him."

"And he was going to _kill_ you."

I don't know how to feel. I'm just in total shock right now.

"How'd you even know I was here?"

"I followed you. Is this how you get _fresh air_?"

All of a sudden, Connor and Diana, with Lou Ellen bust into the room. The reaction on their face was priceless.

"William Wallace's Ghost! The bleedin 'ell happened here?"

"Um… a lot apparently," Connor says.

"Well, I was tailing this guy until he attacks me," I say, "then _Miss Cafe_ over here decides to stab him through the heart!" I glare at her angrily.

"Excuse me, Grease Lightning…" oh we're going there, "I saved your life because he was gonna _shoot_ you through the heart."

"Then thank you," I say sarcastically, "But you could've just knocked him out! Not _kill_ him."

"Oh… like those punches of yours?"

"You want to go? I'm not afraid to hit a girl. I'm a lethal weapon. Wanna die by sticky notes? _Cause I can make that happen_."

Lou Ellen stands between the two of us, arms stretched out.

"Okay, you two. That's enough. Right now, we have to explain to Reyna and Frank this body. And _you missy_ ," she looks straight at the girl, "are going to do it!"

"It's Amelia." Lou Ellen ignores her

"And you," she looks at me this time, "are going to clean up this mess. Then meet back with us at the Senate House. Now, do I make myself clear."

We both glare at each other for a while, the nod. Lou Ellen then looks at the crowd of people, watching terror.

"Nothing to see here, demigod business. Just get back to drinking," that seemed to be enough because that's exactly what they did. They'd probably forget about tonight from a massive hangover. I _know_.

I begin to clean up everything. I pick up the broken table debris and gather all the shards of glass. I also had to wipe the blood stains from the floor which was probably the hardest thing to do. Amelia slings the body over her shoulder and begins to carry it. She probably has to wait after the Council Meeting is over before she can tell Reyna and Frank.

After I finish cleaning up, as per Lou Ellen's request, I head back to the Senate House. As I re-enter the building I see that Brooke was speaking.

"...remember when we fought together? Together we managed to defeat the Earth mother Gaea. We managed to accomplish so many things together that we have never been able to do when we were separate. So tell me this, Senator. Why would _we_ want to break that truce? What could _we_ possibly gain by doing this? Especially, why now, after 5 years of a long alliance? And if we wanted to quote-on-quote 'eradicate you', why would we only send 8? And just for purely attacking? And why would we then come by airship a day later? It makes no sense. So, Senator. Answer any one of those with a strong answer, and I'll admit we're guilty."

There was silence. She got him. The Senator, had _no_ answer. I could see the massive grins from Reyna, Frank and the others. Even Percy was smiling in the audience. And to be honest, I couldn't help but smile myself.

"Way to go, _Beethoven_."

* * *

 **Bam! Done.**

 **Hope you guys enjoyed and please leave a review.**


	18. Reflection

_**Clint**_

Way to go, Clint. You just _had_ to let it happen to you. All cause of my stupid… emotions. I don't know why Oscar is still in my head! That was so long ago. Why does it matter now? How am I manipulated so easily? I let out a deep sigh as I walk through the Camp. It was quiet. You can hear the slight chatter hear and there but, everyone else was at the Senate House. Gods, it's so lonely. I'm left all by myself with nothing but my guilt and my thoughts. Pretty dramatic, I know. But it's true.

I _hurt_ people. I _burned_ down buildings. I almost jeopardized our whole mission… and I almost killed Freddie. I almost did to Vern what happened to me, and that's _no_ pain any brother should have to go through. I couldn't face them right now, I need something familiar, I need… someone. The Argo III. Maybe I could pop by and say hi to Killian or Petra.

I begin to walk over to the massive field where the ship was landed. I see it's massive frame, towering over the grass. It's celestial bronze plating, glinting in moon. The masts were folded and the deck looked empty. I walk up the ramp and enter the ship. It was dark. The only light you could see down the hallways were the fires coming from the engine room. I could hear the sound of a hammer striking metal and the pumping of pistons. Someone must be home.

The door was open and I peer my head inside. I see Killian, working on a piece of plating, hammering it into it's shield shape. He doesn't notice me at first until I knock on the wall beside me. He turns his head to the source of the sound and gets slightly startled.

"Oh Clint," he says, "didn't see you there."

"Hey Killian," I reply.

"What's up? Shouldn't you be with the others?"

"I'm not sure if they _want_ me around right now."

He pauses his hammering for a moment, then slams it down again.

"Let me guess," he says in-between swings, "it's got something to do with your little incident."

I look down, "Yeah…"

"Well," he says whilst still hammering on the shield, "if you want a place to hang where no one will bother you," he gestures to the whole room, "this is the place to be."

"Thanks."

I take a seat near one of the workbenches and listen to the consistent pounding of Killian's hammer. I sit in silence, thinking to myself, looking through my thoughts, reflecting. Too bad Oscar isn't here. He's usually my number one _vent_ man. If I had anything bottled up or bothering me, I let it all out on him. Of course now, that something is him.

Deciding that this silence isn't helping, I delve into conversation, "What's that?" He looks to me and I point at the Celestial Bronze shield he was working on.

He looks back and continues hammering, "It's one of the plates that flew off after getting hit by one of those ballista bolts, nasty things, so I'm just getting them back into shape. _Literally_."

"Is it just you here?"

"Yep."

"Where's Petra?"

He shrugs, "I dunno. After we heard about what happened — you going crazy and what not — she immediately left without saying a word. I haven't seen her since."

"Oh."

The silence comes back and once again, the only sound that could be heard was the clashing of metals. Then Killian suddenly stops, and puts his finished plate next to a pile of other ones. _Damn,_ he must've been working all day. He takes off his apron and hangs it on a hook near the door. He then takes of his gloves and wipes the sweat and grease off them with a cloth. Killian then walks over to one of the fires and lowers it down to a smaller setting. After that, he swings over a chair in front of me and sits down.

"So… clearly there's something going on and I'm here if you need any therapy," he says.

I hesitate to answer, I'm not usually one to share all my feelings but I think I need to. I need someone to _vent_ on since Oscar's no longer with us. So, I take in a deep breath.

"It's… Oscar," I say.

"Explain."

"Look, I know his death was a while ago," I respond, "And I _have_ gotten over it, but it keeps coming back. Now, because of it, I was possessed into harming my friends."

"Well, clearly you _haven't_ gotten over it."

"But… I have. I don't cry everytime I think about him, I'm not depressed anymore, I don't have any personal vendetta against the Romans. It's all gone."

"Look, Clint. Losing family isn't something you just… get over. It sticks. _Sure_ , you might forget about it or feel better after a while, but it's still there."

"I know, but it's more than just about losing him. I _failed_ him."

"You didn't _fail_ him, Clint —"

"I _did_ , Killian. I fail to protect the ones I love, my family, my friends. I fail to be at their side."

"What happened that day wasn't your fault. It just… happened."

"Yes. _But_ who do you think sent him there? Who do you think came up with the idea of having a decoy flag whilst a group grabs the enemies? Who do you think came up with the plan to send him in alone?"

"Who do you think agreed to it?"

I stop.

Killian continues, "It was his choice, Clint. He made the choice to go after it. _He_ made the choice to sacrifice himself for Brooke."

I don't say anything.

"It's not your fault Clint and you know damn well, it ain't the romans either. If there's anyone to blame, it's the one who hypnotised them and you."

"Well it doesn't matter," I reply, "they don't trust me anymore. They _hate_ me."

There is an awkward silence for a while and then Killian bursts out laughing.

I get a bit angry, "What's so funny?"

He gasps, "You are _so_ edgy, Clint. Come on!"

"What?"

"Do you _really_ think they hate you? After all you've done, you think they'd hate you? If anything, they understand you more! Freddie and Vern had been hypnotised themselves. And do you remember Leo? He got possessed and bombed Camp Jupiter but he was still loved by his friends, even if they didn't show it."

He has a point. To my surprise, Killian _had_ a way with words.

After a long pause, I get up from my seat and start heading to the door. Before I step out, I turn around and face Killian who was still sitting in his chair.

"Thanks, Killian. I… needed that."

"Hmph, no worries. Where are you going now?"

"I think I should... check up with Freddie."

"Good Idea — oh and if you see Petra, tell her to get her ass over here."

I chuckle.

"I'm serious man, she's been gone way too long."

"Alright, alright."

Just before I leave, I hear Killian say one more thing.

"And Clint," he says, "just so you know, you haven't failed, _anybody."_

I walk out the room, with nothing but those words repeating in my head. _I haven't failed anybody_.

* * *

I stand in front of the Infirmary, light glowing through the windows. Like most of the buildings in Camp, the Infirmary was made out of white marble and had a red roof. I take a deep breath and walk inside the structure. It was fairly empty. Most of the staff were moving things around and filling in papers rather than tending to the wounded. On either side of the room was a long row of beds, where injured demigods would lie. I walk up to what looks like a form of reception area for visitors. Sometimes I forget how orderly Romans are, it's like a legitimate clinic. A boy, sat behind a desk and was currently busy looking through files.

I decide to wait before interrupting him. After he finishes he looks up and is taken by surprise to see me standing there.

"Um… how may I help you?" The boy said with a surprising french accent.

"Yes, uh…" I look at his name tag, it said 'Shaun, Son of Vejovis' which I assume is the roman equivalent of Asclepius, greek god of Medicine.

"Shaun. I'm just here to visit a Freddie?"

"I'm sorry, _monsieur_ but we aren't having any visitors right now."

Immediately, what looks like a nurse, walks in.

"Shaun, can you please bring some food and snacks to the visitors staying in room III?"

He rolls his eyes, "Yes... Elizabeth... right away."

"Well, look we don't have any room right now."

The nurse, Elizabeth walks in again, "Oh and Shaun, just checked, we have 10 more spots for visitors."

He slams his face into the table.

"Nevermind... who are you looking for?"

"Freddie."

"Freddie Jules?"

That's his last name?

"I think so."

He sighs and looks at a piece of paper. "...Cause of Injury: attacked by crazy greek…"

"Yes — yes, that's him."

Shaun then looks at me for a good 5 seconds, "Would you be the crazed greek camper?"

"Yes?" I whimper.

"Well, this is going to be _awkward_." He's not wrong.

After a couple more seconds of me watching him fill in papers and write something in his notebook:

"Well, you're good to go. Just go to the end of the room, take a left into a hallway and the second door on your right is where Freddie is."

"Thank you," I say.

"And… if I'm not mistaken, he currently already has two visitors."

Probably Vern, don't know who the other is.

"One last thing. Would you like to fill in this form for any funeral arrangements?"

"For who?"

"For you."

I frown, "Why would I need that?"

He smiles, "Because I have a feeling you'll be having one… _very_ soon."

I let out a fake laugh and continue to walk away. I remember to follow the directions Shaun gave me. I walk down to the end of the room, passing all the beds and some of the campers in them. I take a left into a long hallway with doors on either side, roman numerals above them. I stop at the second door to my right, the one with the number III.

I hesitate for a moment, then I slowly turn the doorknob and creak the door open. I step inside to see two people, surrounding a bed where Freddie was recovering, still unconscious. Was I really that bad? I hope I didn't do anything severe. The two people look like they had been sitting, waiting and talking for the whole day. One was sleeping whilst the other read a book. The one still awake, hearing me enter looks up at me. I'm surprised to find out that it was Petra.

"Hey Clint," she says, stifling a yawn.

"Hi Petra, surprised to see you here."

She didn't respond, she just blinked a couple times.

"Vern sleeping?" I ask.

She looks at the drooling boy, completely knocked out on his chair. She nods.

"He's pretty exhausted," she says, "he's been here all day."

"From the looks of it, so have you."

"Yeah…"

I would ask why but now's not the time. It was clear she was too tired and couldn't be bothered to explain herself.

"Get some rest," I tell her, "get back to the Argo, Killian wants you anyways."

She shakes her head, "No. I'm good, I can stay… here… a bit..." she yawns, "... longer."

"No you can't. Come on, I'll stay and watch."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Fine." She gets up from her seat and starts heading towards the door. Before she leaves she says, "Just take care of him ok?"

Again, what connection she has with him, I don't know, but I just reply with, "Don't worry."

She leaves and I'm left alone with the very person I almost killed and his brother sleeping right next to me. I let out a deep sigh and stay silent. Soon enough, I begin talking. Pretty sure no one can hear.

"Hey man," I say, "Sorry I almost killed you, _heh."_

I keep talking, more to myself and less to Freddie, "Got possessed, couldn't do anything about it. Still about Oscar."

"It's nothing personal or anything, I don't blame any of you. I blame myself really but… yeah. I don't know why I still think about him. Long time ago but I guess you can't get over family."

I start playing with my fingers and look around the room.

"It _kills_ me sometimes, to be knowing that I'm working with the guy who killed him. But it technically wasn't you, I guess. It was _the mystery man_."

I look over at Vern, "And sometimes when I see you and Vern, I can't help but remember the moments… we had, you know? That brotherly love..."

"Jet told me — about you and your brother, by the way" I say.

"How, I guess nobody trust you and thinks you're scum. How, you're trying everything in your power to clear your name. I gotta say… I respect that."

"I respect _you._ Because I know that it isn't for you, it's for him," I gesture to Vern.

"As an older brother you want to make your little bro's life easier. I get that."

I look down at my feet, "The only problem is, that I wasn't able to. I just hope… that you can."

"You are a _great_ guy Fred, maybe better than me."

" _Gods_ , you're depressing."

I hear a voice come from the bed. Freddie had woken up and was looking at me. He struggles to sit up on the bed.

"Were you —"

"Yes. I was listening the whole time, and I'm sorry."

"Hey, I already told you, ain't your fault."

He chuckles, "I know, I know. But I still feel like an ass."

I smile back, "yeah… you kinda are."

"And Oscar," he says, "You never told me his name before. It's nice."

" _Oscar Asher_ ," he says whilst spreading his arm out in front of him, as if we was presenting a grand plan. "Has a nice ring to it."

"Sure does."

"And thanks for what you said earlier," He says.

"About what?"

"About what I'm trying to do for my little bro."

Then he grimaces, "But I'm afraid that I won't be able to provide that world for Vern."

"What do you mean?"

"Remember when me and Vern had to stay behind with Reyna?"

I forget at first but then remember vividly that they were called to stay back after we all had left.

"Yeah."

"Well, she said some pretty… _meaningful_ things. We completely shattered her trust. I'm afraid we won't be able to gain it back."

"Oh," That was all I could respond with.

"It's pretty bad."

"What's the deal with you guys anyways? Why would they hate you so much? I mean, it can't be just because you're children of Laverna. Hermes kids could also be thieves and liars."

He sighs, "It's a long story."

"Well, we have the time."

"True."

Freddie takes in a deep breath, "Alright, it leads back to these infamous brothers, _way_ back in the 1930's. Their names were Jax and Jayce."

"Also children of Laverna?"

He nods, "They were orphans, who lived on the streets until they found their way to Camp Jupiter. They were greeted with a warm welcome. _Even_ after it was found out that they were children of Laverna because they thought it wouldn't matter. You don't see kids of Mars running around creating World War III."

"The thing is however," he says, "The only thing they were good at... was to steal, that's how they lived for most of their lives. So they kept stealing from people, robbing them of their possessions. It wasn't so bad at first until…"

"Until what?"

"The Great Depression."

I stay silent.

"It happened after World War I and was a worldwide issue. It didn't just affect humans, it affected us as well. Especially since some half-bloods fought in the war. I'm sure it was a thing in Camp Half-Blood as well."

I don't remember much from Chiron's history classes, but I do remember mentioning how we took part in the both World Wars.

"But anyways, they didn't stop. So not only did Camp Jupiter struggle, but Jax and Jayce kept stealing from them. They became hated villains and soon were exiled. But then years later…"

"... another pair of brothers, both children of Laverna, both lived on the streets, came along. And you could assume the reaction wasn't pleasant."

"That's rough buddy."

"Yeah…"

There is an awkward silence between the two of us. The only sound in the room was Vern's loud snoring.

I then stand up from my chair and look at Freddie one last time, "Well, I think I'm gonna leave you to rest. You've got Vern to keep you company anyways."

" _Hah_ , more like I'm keeping him company."

"Well you know how it is."

I open the door and was about to step out until I decide to ask one more question.

"So, are you and Petra… a thing...?"

He immediately turns red, " _WHAT_ , no!? Just _leave_ already."

"I could tell, I have a knack for those kind of things. Oscar had the same thing for Brooke."

He then throws his pillow at me, "Next time it won't be a pillow."

I laugh, "Alright… alright."

"But just to let you know, I could give you some pointers about her if you want…"

I see him grab his quarterstaff and I immediately start running for the exit.

I can't stop laughing.

* * *

 _ **Thanks for reading this chapter!**_

 _ **Please Leave some feedback!**_

 _ **Thanks in advance :).**_


	19. Celebration Time

_**Jet**_

"I'm sorry — you _what!?"_

Oh boy, Amelia is in trouble…

"Please, Reyna. He was going to kill —"

Reyna stops her, "No, it doesn't matter. You should have taken him out, _non-lethally_."

I was waiting outside a small room with Brooke and the rest of the gang (besides a few), somewhere in the Senate House. The meeting had just been dismissed (Brooke smashed it by the way) and Frank, Reyna and Percy were told about the little incident that happened in the Roman 'Drinking Facility' earlier. We could hear the loud shouting coming from inside the room. It was so loud, they might as well just have the conversation out here.

"So what happened Jet?" Brooke asks.

"Oh you know… found a suspicious dude, chased him, fought him, was gonna shoot me. Then Amelia killed him first."

"I'm sorry, shoot you?"

"Yeah. Somehow he had a gun… well a sidearm, nothing _too_ serious."

Connor chimes in, "That's still pretty serious, bro."

"Yah, ye could've _died_."

"Thanks for the concern Diana, but this isn't the first time I've been held at gunpoint ya know?"

Everybody shuts up. I feel like they keep forgetting that I don't come from a pretty background. No, I'm not edgy.

"Nice job by the way, Beethoven."

She looks at me with surprise, then blushes.

"Oh, that was nothing."

"Mmm… I'm pretty sure that wasn't _nothing,_ " I say, "Should have seen the look on his face."

"Yeah, well everybody else played their part as well."

I grin, "Who? Malcolm? Nah…"

"I heard that," a voice grumbles.

"Love you too."

After long moments of waiting, doing nothing, talking, whistling, even as far as playing a 'finish the sentence' game the door suddenly swings open. It smashes into the wall, surprisingly _not_ knocking it off its hinges.

Amelia storms out, fists clenched tightly to her side. She then gives me a look I'll never forget, she wanted to kill me. At first, she looks really pissed but then I realise she looks like she's about to cry. I try to call out for her but she's already long gone. I feel bad. I didn't mean to emotionally crush the gal. Sure, she made a stupid mistake but who doesn't?

Then Percy pops out and gestures for us to come in. We walk inside to see four people standing around a table. Percy, Frank, Reyna and one other. I think she's the one they call Hazel

"Took you guys long — _GAH_ who is that?!"

We all jump back when we see a body, lifelessly layed down on the table in front of us.

Frank sighs, "This is Oliver of the First Cohort, who is now… deceased."

I look at his face and it was just a boy, like me. Just like any other demigod. I look at his wrist to see the same tattoo that was on the other hooded figure that we chased. A stopwatch, with a sword and an arrow crossing through it.

"Is it the same guy that eavesdropped on us?" Malcolm asks.

"We have no way of knowing," Percy responds, "But it's highly likely."

"He also… carried this."

Reyna opens a drawer, and pulls out a pistol. The same pistol that Oliver was going to shoot me with. It had Bronze and Gold markings on it and that same stopwatch symbol engraved into the handle.

"How did he manage to get his hands on a firearm? Did he just walk into a gun store?" I ask.

Reyna shakes her head, "This isn't any ordinary gun. It has Imperial Gold and Celestial Bronze engravings. This isn't a work of a gun store owner, this is demigod craftsmanship."

"And judging from the usage of the same symbol, this is probably some sort of organization — or cult," Hazel concludes.

Brooke gasps, "Meaning that —"

"Yes, it's possible that there are other members still here, in Camp Jupiter. Possibly in Camp Half-Blood as well."

That's not good. Everybody falls silent. The possibility of traitors is insane. One moment you could be hanging out with your best friend to then later find out he wants to kill you.

"But look, we can talk about this later. Right now," Percy inhales, "we just _WON_ , the debate!"

Everyone stares at Percy, wide eyed.

"Wait, what?"

"It hasn't been officially announced, but you guys practically won over the whole Senate. Thanks to Brooke's last questions, they had nothing else to say. The logic was… unreal."

"So no Civil-War?"

"Nope."

"You know what that means," Connor says, " _CELEBRATION TIME!"_

"Well, hold on we still have —"

"Oh come on, Reyna. We just accomplished a massive victory! Even Nike would agree."

Connor and Reyna go on for about a whole minute, back and forth about the idea. But soon enough, Reyna gives in.

"Fine."

" _GREAT_ , I'll prep the Mess Hall. Come on guys!" He pulls everybody else with him to help with the preparations. But I stay, leaving me alone with the two praetors. Don't get me wrong, I love to party but there's still something on my mind.

"Hey, I have one question."

Frank nods, "Go ahead."

"Amelia… what did you guys say to her?"

"Reyna things," Frank replies with a smirk. Reyna punches him on the shoulder

"I mean, from the looks of how she walked out, it sounds pretty harsh."

"Yeah, like I said. _Reyna things_."

Reyna shot a look at Frank that made him shut his mouth.

Then she spoke, "I just told her, that what she did was an idiotic mistake. Something a Roman would never do."

"Yeah… but she _did_ save my life."

"She could have saved your life, in other ways."

"I guess."

"It doesn't matter anymore, the ordeal is over. And if I'm not mistaken," she looks at me with those super-freaking scary eyes, "you have a party to go to?"

* * *

I'm going to say it, Connor has really outdone himself now. He managed to turn a boring white marble, yes again with the marble, dinner hall into an amazing… party hall. With a help of a couple Vulcan kids, he set up a stage and sound for any music or performances. Though who would have the balls to perform, I don't know. Also, Lou Ellen got some pretty sweet lights going on using her magic.

The rest of us, did our best to set the tables. Food and drinks weren't much of a problem because, thanks to magical plates and goblets, we can get whatever we want. Although, we did have to get some wine from New Rome because the goblets don't provide alcoholic beverages. And don't worry, we set an age limit. Diana is in charge of watching over the drinks, because we figured no one would want to mess with her.

All of a sudden, people start coming in. I assume that parties aren't that common in Camp Jupiter. We didn't care who came, everyone was invited. Even if they don't know what the occasion is for. Then I see Clint, Petra and Killian walk in. Clint looking a lot more up beat than usual. Me and Brooke decide to greet them.

"Ey! Clint, how's it going man?"

"Sup, Jet."

"Well that's good to here."

"What's going on?" Killian asks.

"Party," Brooke replies, "we won the debate for the Civil-War."

"More like _she_ won the debate," I smile.

"I'm sorry, _Civil-War_?" Petra looks at us in confusion.

Me, Brooke and Clint look at each other. We just remembered we still haven't told them about it.

"We'll explain later, right now, just go and have fun. Drinks are with Diana."

Petra and Killian exchange glances and grin, jumping straight into the fun.

"So… Clint," Brooke says, "How you feeling?"

"A lot better now. Get this, _Killian_ talked some sense into me."

"Seriously?"

Clint nods, "Also, Freddie."

"So are you two best buds now?" I ask.

"Just buds."

"Don't forget about me ok?"

"I wish I could," Clint says then begins to start laughing, Brooke following suit.

Soon enough, I do too. _Man_ , it's been a while since it's just been us three. For once, we were all happy, not depressed or grieving for a loved one. Just happy.

"Alright, guys. Come one, let's get inside," Brooke says.

The two of them begin to walk over to the others. I look at the groups of people walking through the entrance. Where is _she_? Almost the whole Camp's in here.

"You guys go on ahead, I'll catch up."

They both shrug and start laughing again, telling stories and talking with everybody else. I keep looking into the crowds but Amelia isn't there. I sigh. Now, I feel really bad.

" _Everyone_ should be here. No one deserves to be left out."

* * *

I wait and wait and wait but she still doesn't show up. I don't know why I feel bad, It's not like I put all the blame on her. Okay… I put most of it on her. But now, I feel like shit. I ask some of the campers if she's seen her around but nobody has any answers. I decide to walk out and look for her. I pass by all the buildings, searching for any signs of her. I stroll by the barracks, and still nothing. Well, I guess she ain't here.

* _Thud*_

What was that?

"Stupid, son of a —" * _Thud*_

Sounded like somebody was banging rocks against the side of a building.

 _*Clang*_

And a weapon?

"I'm gonna rip his —"

Is that her?

"He's going to (insert bad word here) die!"

Yep that's her.

I stand up next to a building and walk along it's walls. I start moving towards the back of it and the sounds become closer. I finally reach where the wall ends and turns left. I peer my head over and see a glimpse of Amelia, wacking the wall with her spear and anything she could find. I gulp, she was _not_ in the mood. I take a step back, and activate my gloves. Then I bring my arms into an X across my chest to form the shield. I'm not taking any chances.

I walk out into the open, but at first she doesn't notice me. I then clear my throat, shield still covering my body.

"Hey Ameli —"

A spear comes straight for my head, I duck just in time behind my shield. Then I slowly pop back up.

"Nice to see you to."

"What. Do. You. Want." Her eyes were fierce and on fire, her breathing was heavy and her Post-Cut Rapunzely hair was messy.

"Well, we're having a party and I was wondering why you weren't there," I whimper.

"Oh gee, I wonder why — oh I know… you screwed me over!"

" _That_ was a misunderstanding."

"If I recall correctly, you pointed fingers at only one person. _ME_ ," she yells, "You didn't mention the circumstances, why I did it and the fact I saved your life!"

I managed to reply, shield still up, "I know and I'm sorry."

She doesn't say anything but glare at me.

"Let me make it up to you. I feel like crap. I'll talk to Reyna and Frank, but just please come to the party. It'll clear my conscience."

She stops for a moment. Then I could see the rage drift away from her face, seeming more calmer now. She changes from her 'I'm going to kill you' stance to a more relaxed posture. After moments of silence, she speaks.

"Maybe, you're right. I need to wind down a bit."

"Yes, you do."

"Fine, I'll go to the party."

"Yes!" I fist pump the air.

" _But_ , I'm still going to kill you after."

"Don't worry. I can do it for you if you want?"

Her mouth twitches… then laughs. Oh my gods ladies and gentleman she laughed. We got her.

She then stops herself and goes back to her serious face.

"Doesn't change anything."

"Sure it doesn't," I say but immediately shut up after she threatened to choke me to death.

* * *

We enter the Hall to already see everyone having a great time. Grabbing drinks, talking with friends, some were even having a couple of competitions. Arm-wrestling and whatnot. The lights were perfect, illuminating the room with a nice purple and orange. No music though, that kinda sucks. I try to spot my own friends and see them all the way on the left side of the room, next to the wine stand where Diana eyed every young demigod considering a drink.

I walk over to them, bringing Amelia with me.

"So, then… I put a _spider_ in her bunk bed and she freaked _out_ ," I hear Connor say.

"Oh yeah, Annabeth did not like that. She wanted to kill you," Percy said whilst sipping some of his drink.

Everybody pauses when they see me.

" _Ey_ , look who it is," Malcolm calls out in a not so friendly tone. Though I think it's more fun banter now rather than hatred.

"Yeah! The guy who kicked your ass," I smirk.

"It was a _draw!_ "

"Who's this?" Clint asks, looking at Amelia.

"Oh, this is Amelia," I reply, "You know… the girl who killed the guy."

She then slams her fist into my shoulder, making me squeal in pain.

"I like her," Diana says. _Of course_ she does.

"I like your hair," one of the aphrodite twins say (yes they're here), I think it was Nora — or Heather.

"Anyone ever tell you it looks like Rapunzel's after she cut it?"

I shout with glee, " _YES_ , thank you."

"I have been told, many times."

I see Percy separate himself from the crowd and start moving to another.

"Where you going?" I ask.

"To my peeps," he says gesturing to Reyna, Frank and Hazel.

Surprising to see Reyna here.

"Wait, aren't I one of your peeps?" Connor asks.

"Uh… sure."

"Oh, _come on_!" he says in annoyance, "I was there too you know."

Brooke scoffs, "No you weren't."

Connor tries to protest but no one can hear him over the constant laughing.

* * *

 _ **What did you guys think about the previous chapters so far?**_

 _ **Do you like it? or are there somethings I should improve?**_

 _ **Either way, I hope you enjoyed reading!**_


	20. Clarence's Party Trick

_**Brooke**_

"Gods, this party is getting boring."

"What do you mean, Clarence? Everyone's having fun."

"I know but where's the music, the — the life."

He looks at me blankly and then lights up like he just had a wonderful idea.

"I'm going to do it."

"Do what?" I ask.

"My Party Trick."

I freeze, "Seriously!? You've never done it in front of this many people before!"

"Even better."

Lou Ellen seemed to walk in on the conversation, "Is Clarence gonna do the party trick?"

"Yes…"

Then Connor stumbles in, "No way… it'll be _amazing_ if you manage to pull it off."

"I know right. Just help me get a piano up there."

"Already on it," Diana says.

I see Diana run behind the stage, grabbing a couple of romans with her. They soon pop out, carrying a grand piano and placing it on the stage. Nobody else seems to notice.

"Okay, but I'm _not_ playing guitar this time," I tell him sternly.

"Don't worry, I asked around when everyone came in. Turns out Rex is an amazing guitarist."

"And drums and the bass?"

"Already covered."

Then, Clarence runs off to gather his new roman bandmates and prepare backstage. A drumset is suddenly pulled onto stage. Then Rex with his guitar, another with a bass and another on the drums. Clarence sits down on the piano and signals to someone offstage managing the sound. All of a sudden Jet and Amelia stop their own conversation after hearing all the commotion.

"What's going on?" Jet asks.

I sigh, "Clarence is going to do his party trick."

"What is it?"

"You'll see," I say.

Clovis then walks in, "He's doing it?"

"Yep."

"Doing what?" Amelia asks.

"He's studied the footage a thousand times and watched Rami do it a few times as well," Malcolm replies, "He's even got the voice down pat."

Amelia just looks confused, so did Jet, "What'd he study?"

Then all of a sudden, the piano starts playing. No specific tune yet, just a couple of practices and warm-ups. Everybody was watching now. Stopped what they were doing, intrigued by this new event. Nobody else, besides us Greeks, knew what they were about to do. Clarence looked back at the rest of his band and they gave him the thumbs up. Silence. Nothing was happening. And then…

The piece for _Bohemian Rhapsody_ started playing. Everyone began to freak out, cheering on what was about to come. I looked back at Jet who had his jaw on the floor.

" _This_ is his party trick?"

 _Mama, just killed a man_

 _Put a gun against his head_

 _Pulled my trigger, now he's dead_

 _Mama, life had just begun_

His voice was almost identical, everyone was singing along.

 _But now I've gone and thrown it all away_

 _Mama, oh oh_

 _Didn't mean to make you cry_

 _If I'm not back again this time tomorrow_

 _Carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters_

Way to go, bro.

 _Too late, my time has come_

 _Sends shivers down my spine_

 _Body's aching all the time_

 _Goodbye everybody I've got to go_

 _Gotta leave you all behind and face the truth_

 _Mama, oh oh (anyway the wind blows)_

 _I don't want to die_

 _Sometimes wish I'd never been born at all_

The crowd was completely into it. People were on people's shoulder. Swaying their hands. Even our group was totally into it. And then the guitar solo… _ooft_. He wasn't lying when he said Rex was an amazing guitarist. Clarence then stands from his seat, the drumming and the strumming of the guitarists kept going. Clarences raises his fist into air just like Freddie and grabs the mic, seamlessly switching into Radio GaGa. Just like the real Live Aid concert. Hundreds of more cheers filled the room.

Clarence needed to work _a bit_ on the movements but it was pretty darn identical.

 _I'd sit alone and watch your light_

 _My only friend through teenage nights_

 _And everything I had to know_

 _I heard it on my radio_

 _You gave them all those old time stars_

 _Through wars of worlds invaded by Mars_

 _You made 'em laugh, you made 'em cry_

 _You made us feel like we could fly (radio)_

Holy crap, I really hope Apollo was watching this. This is just too good.

 _So don't become some background noise_

 _A backdrop for the girls and boys_

 _Who just don't know or just don't care_

 _And just complain when you're not there_

Everyone here seemed to love Queen because we all sang along.

 _ **You had your time, you had the power**_

 _ **You've yet to have your finest hour**_

 _ **Radio (radio)**_

 _ **All we hear is**_ *Clap Clap* _ **radio ga ga**_

*Clap Clap*

 _ **Radio goo goo**_

*Clap Clap*

 _ **Radio ga ga**_ *Clap Clap*

 _ **All we hear is**_ *Clap Clap* _ **radio ga ga**_ *Clap Clap*

 _ **Radio blah blah**_

*Clap Clap*

 _ **Radio, what's new?**_

 _ **Radio, someone still loves you**_

I cannot stress how electrifying this is. It felt like the legitimate thing. You wanna know how? Even _Clint_ was freaking dancing and singing. He _never_ dances and sings. Jet was going all out with Malcolm, arms slung around each others shoulders. They didn't even care anymore. I bet you, this could be heard across the entire Camp.

Clarence keeps going, he's _really_ going all out.

 _We watch the shows, we watch the stars_

 _On videos for hours and hours_

 _We hardly need to use our ears_

 _How music changes through the years_

I was rocking out so hard I accidentally knocked into a Roman kid, but he didn't care.

 _Let's hope you never leave old friend_

 _Like all good things on you we depend_

 _So stick around 'cause we might miss you_

 _When we grow tired of all this visual_

 _ **You had your time, you had the power**_

 _ **You've yet to have your finest hour**_

 _ **Radio (radio)**_

 _ **All we hear is**_ *Clap Clap* _ **radio ga ga**_

*Clap Clap*

 _ **Radio goo goo**_

*Clap Clap*

 _ **Radio ga ga**_ *Clap Clap*

 _ **All we hear is**_ *Clap Clap* _ **radio ga ga**_ *Clap Clap*

 _ **Radio blah blah**_

*Clap Clap*

 _ **Radio, what's new?**_

 _ **Radio, someone still loves you**_

The drumming keeps going, the guitarists rocking it out. The drummer kept hitting the cymbals for a good 20 seconds. Then _bam_ , the finish.

Clarence then pauses and looks at the crowd, mic in hand, he looks like he is about to do Freddie Mercury's famous vocalisations with the crowd then he stops. Everyone, including me, disappointed.

"Sorry, I'm not that good… yet."

Everybody groans.

"But I will do… _Hammer to FALL!"_

The cheering comes back and he begins to get back into the groove. I start getting into it too until I see Clint and Jet slip away. Me being me, and slightly disappointed I couldn't keep watching, I decide to follow them. Which then leads me outside, the makeshift "Live Aid Concert" still blaring loudly.

"Yo, where you guys headed?"

Clint and Jet turn back to me in surprise but just shrug.

"We're going to grab Freddie and Vern," Clint says.

"They _can't_ miss this," Jet adds.

"Indeed they can't."

* * *

We reach the Infirmary and enter the building. I see a boy sitting behind a desk in what looks like a reception area. _Wow_ , the Romans really do love organisation.

"Hey, Shaun," Clint says.

"Well if it isn't the crazy _greek_ boy," Shaun replies. His accent is funny, french ones usually are in my opinion.

"I'm just here to pick up Freddie."

"I'm sorry, but he is still recovering —"

Then a nurse, with the name tag Elizabeth walks in, "Shaun! Good news, Freddie is in good health and ready to be released."

" _Merde_ ," Shaun replies, "Of course he is."

We just look at him while he writes down all these forms.

"Well, you should be good to go. I'm sure you know where he is."

Clint thanks him and we begin walking across the room.

"His accent is funny," Jet says which makes us all giggle. It _was_ pretty funny.

We continue following Clint, who has clearly been here before. We reach the end of the row of beds. Then take a left into a long hallway where the rooms had Roman numerals above each one. We turned right in to a room with III above the door. The moment we enter the room, we're greeted by Vern.

"Hey guys! You hear? Freddie's all good to go."

"Yeah we know Vern," Jet replies.

Then Freddie sits up on his bed and looks straight at Clint.

"I would kick your ass, if I could."

Clint looked offended, "Why would you — oh…"

Clint began to grin and laugh mischievously.

"Hey guys," he says, "did you know that Freddie and Pe —"

"I _swear_ to gods Clint I will _kill_ you."

"Alright — alright, only kidding."

"Kidding about what?" Vern asks but then shuts up when Freddie gave him a look.

"Anyways," I say trying to change the subject, "we're here to pick you guys up?"

"Why?" Freddie asks.

"Because…" Jet starts, "We're are having a party and we don't want you guys missing out."

"It's fine, we don't really care."

"Oh come on," Clint begs, "you _have_ to come."

All three of us gave them the pouty eyes and that seemed to do the trick.

"Alright… alright. Just give me a second. I still feel like I've been run over by a minotaur."

"What's so amazing about it anyways?" Vern asks.

"You'll see."

"Well, they better be playing at least _one_ Queen songs. Our family loves them. Why do you think our parents called one of their sons Freddie?"

We don't reply but just look at each other with massive smiles on our face. Freddie leans on Clint as we walk out of the Infirmary and make our way back to the Mess Hall.

*Stomp Stomp* *Clap*

*Stomp Stomp* *Clap*

*Stomp Stomp* *Clap*

*Stomp Stomp* *Clap*

*Stomp Stomp* *Clap*

*Stomp Stomp* *Clap*:

Is all we can hear coming back. Freddie and Vern were in for a surprise.

 _Buddy, you're a boy, make a big noise_

 _Playing in the street, gonna be a big man someday_

 _You got mud on your face, you big disgrace_

 _Kicking your can all over the place, singin'_

Vern not even saying anything, immediately runs inside to see what was going on. He looks like he's going to faint. The crowd sings.

 _ **We will, we will rock you**_

 _ **We will, we will rock you**_

" _YEAAAAH_! Do IT!"

 _ **We will, we will rock you**_

 _ **We will, we will rock you**_

"Alrighty, Sing it again!"

 _ **We will, we will rock you**_

 _ **We will, we will rock you**_

"No way…" I hear Freddie say, still leaning on Clint's shoulder.

"Yes, way."

Then the guitar solo, by Rex, begins to play and Freddie looks like he was going to melt. We somehow manage to navigate our way through the rowdy crowds and regroup with our friends.

"Freddie! Vern!" Clovis calls out.

"How you guys been?" Connor asks. But got no reply because the two were already jammin out with the music. The song finishes and Clarence speaks into the mic.

"How we all doing so far!?" Clarence says and everyone just cheers wildly.

"We've reached the final song," everyone groans, "and I think it fits very well."

The groaning still occurs and somebody calls out, "More songs!"

"I'm sorry, but this is it. My voice is going to kill itself if I go any longer," he says. Not gonna lie I'm a bit disappointed myself.

"But that doesn't mean the _night_ is over. This is just the beginning. And now…"

He sits down on the piano and begins to play _We Are The Champions_. Everybody roars in excietement.

 _I've paid my dues_

 _Time after time_

 _I've done my sentence_

 _But committed no crime_

 _And bad mistakes_

 _I've made a few_

 _I've had my share of sand kicked in my face_

 _But I've come through_

Everyone was singing along.

 _ **We are the champions, my friends**_

 _ **And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end**_

It was unbelievable. People were screaming along and swaying their arms.

 _ **We are the champions**_

 _ **We are the champions**_

 _ **No time for losers**_

 _ **'Cause we are the champions of the world**_

 _I've taken my bows_

 _And my curtain calls_

 _You brought me fame and fortune and everything that goes with it_

 _I thank you all_

More cheers.

 _But it's been no bed of roses_

 _No pleasure cruise_

 _I consider it a challenge before the whole human race_

 _And I ain't gonna lose_

 _ **We are the champions, my friends**_

 _ **And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end**_

 _ **We are the champions**_

 _ **We are the champions**_

 _ **No time for losers**_

 _ **'Cause we are the champions...**_

 _ **We are the champions, my friends**_

 _ **And we'll keep on fighting 'til the end**_

 _ **We are the champions**_

 _ **We are the champions**_

 _ **No time for losers**_

 _ **'Cause we are the champions…**_

 _ **Of the world!**_

Massive, massive applause. I even started to tear up a little. Everyone was going crazy as the band walked off stage.

This was the most amazing night of my life. For everyone, I'm pretty sure. It was over. No Civil-War, nothing. Just nothing but friendship and a happy ending…

* * *

 **Somewhere…**

"Ey, pal. Turns out ya plan didn't work."

It was a dark cave, no light touched it besides the lanterns hanging from the walls. But even they felt empty. A man sat on a chair, surrounded by 4 other dark figures. The man took of his glasses and crushed it into his hands. Then he throws them across the room.

"Good on ya, mate. Just threw an expensive pair of glasses and crushed'em."

" _Shut up_."

"I've gotta plan… hehe… how about we makes them goes _BOOM_! Hehehehehe…"

The man sighs, takes out a stopwatch in his pocket and flicks it open.

"We're going to have to everything ourselves, aren't we?"

"I'm afraid so."

The man smiles, "so be it."

He then slams his stopwatch shut.

* * *

 _ **Hey guys! I know... I just had to put in the Live Aid Concert, reference.**_

 _ **I loved the movie so much and I've been pumped about it all week.**_

 _ **Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed! :))))**_


	21. Authors Note

_**Hey guys! Full-Blood DemiGOD here!**_

 _ **I just wanted to thank all of you that have been reading from the start. I really appreciate all the support and reviews I've been getting from everyone. Including these people:**_

 **Qorianth Grindelwald**

 **MissWhimsical**

 **FutureFamousAuthor108**

 **PinkRose235**

 _ **You guys have really inspired me to keep writing!**_

 _ **The end of Chapter 20 was almost like the end of ACT 1. We've gotten through a good chunk of story.**_

 _ **Now… for ACT 2.**_

 _ ***Clicks Next***_


	22. Drinks Are On Me

_**Jet**_

 _Nothing_ can beat that. Are you kidding me? Who the hell can beat an almost identical version of the Live Aid Concert? It's madness!

All of us wait for our _Freddie Mercury_ to return from his little performance. We see him run out from backstage, giving high-fives to almost every single person he sees. People were chanting his name. Once he got to us, we embraced him with joyful and prideful hugs.

" _That's_ how it's done," Clint says.

"Let's try and see a Roman do that," Diana adds.

Freddie, who ignores the previous comment, says "You were _amazing_ my man."

Then all of a sudden, Brooke stops us, separating Freddie and Clarence. She stands there, looking very confused, her hand on her chin.

"We've got a problem guys," She says. Everyone else is suddenly intrigued.

"What — what," Connor says, "what's wrong?"

"Well, I don't know which ones the real Freddie," she says and then smiles, "huh? Huh? That was good right?"

We all just groan. Lou Ellen puts a hand on her back, "leave the jokes to Jet, honey."

" _Pffft_ , Jet's jokes are crap." _Wow_ , ok. One thing you don't do: insult my jokes.

"Oh really, Malcolm," I reply, "tell me _one_ good joke."

"You."

"..." I smile — dammit.

"OK, that's pretty good but mine are still better."

We continue to talk for the rest of the night and I gotta say, It was one of the best nights I've had. The most fun I've ever had with a group of people… a group of friends. Yeah, yeah I know, ' _uhhh_ , _Jet didn't have any friends_ ', but it's kind of true. Sure I had 'acquaintances' but never real companions, ya know? Connor continued with his crazy prank stories: the one time he covered the Demeter cabin in chocolate bunnies (already knew that one), him and his brother put a bunch of spiders in the Athena cabin, the thought of which made me shiver (I think Malcolm did too). Though he did mention he mellowed down a bit after Travis (I think that's his name) left. Then I came along…

Oh, I also made the mistake of asking what the big deal was with the 'Seven' demigods… took about an hour for Brooke to summarise _everything_ she knew. I didn't even listen to half of it. Pretty sure most of the others left me to suffer. When they came back, they had this brilliant idea of a friendly drinking game.

"No, no ,no," I say.

"Why not?" Clint asks.

"Because… I'm full?"

"You haven't even eaten anything. Come on, Graves."

Everyone else freezes as Clint said those words. No one's ever actually heard my last name before. I cringe.

"Thought it was Staves."

"Mr.D said that you idiot."

"Doesn't matter," says Clint, then he looks back at me, "Come on, just a couple of drinks of _quality_ Roman wine."

"I — I can't."

"Stop being such a wimp," snarls Malcolm.

I roll my eyes, "It's just that…"

"What?" Brooke asks, genuinely curious now.

"It's just that I've been trying to quit."

I know, it's kind of all of a sudden. Especially for my age, _18,_ not a good number for those sorta things. What was even weird was that I was the youngest out of everyone. I've been trying to keep it under wraps for a while.

They don't say or do anything but look at me. The most surprised being Amelia.

I put on a grin, "Oh come on guys! It's not a big deal, just go ahead and drink."

"You… were an addict?" Amelia asks.

"Well, yes and no," I respond, "But it's fine now, I'm all good, yep," I quickly add on after seeing the worry in their eyes. The last thing I need right now is some sad, depressing talk.

Brooke puts her hand on my shoulder, "are, you alright?"

I speedily brush it off, "I'm _fine_ , Beethoven."

Nobody seemed like they wanted to let it go.

"Just _please_ guys, forget about it and let's have some fun, huh?"

I look at Connor, with desperate eyes of ' _please drop the subject'_. He probably understood because:

"Alright, guys that's enough. Jet's business is his own. Cause right now…" he pauses, " _It's time to DRINK!_ — responsibly of course."

That seemed to have gotten everyone's attention because they decided to just shrug it off and move on. Although, Amelia held her gaze for a second longer, giving me a scrutinizing look, but then decides to leave it be.

" _Oi_ ," I say, everyone turns to me, "I'll referee."

They all smile and nod. Probably because it was a good idea to have the person judging the game to be _not_ drinking. We all set up a table near the drinks stand, where Diana was still watching for any young half-bloods feeling lucky. I grabbed two wine bottles of the: ' _Romulus and Remus Vine,_ _1945 reserve'_. Damn, this was some quality wine.

The first round was Lou Ellen Vs Clint. The Hecate face-off. The contestants sit on either end of the table, a shot glass each.

"You're going down, Clint."

Clint smirks, "Bet."

The rest of us share an _oooo_.

"If you win, you get to do _whatever_ you want to my trench coat..."

More, _oooo's_.

"Clint does love his trench coat," mutters Brooke.

Lou Ellen thinks for a moment, "And If you win?"

Clint smiles, " _You_ give me the Head Counselor position."

 _OOOOO's_.

"I think you've had it long enough. It's nothing personal by the way."

Lou Ellen pauses and puts her hand on her chin, then nods.

"Deal."

Clint just smiles. Everyone, including me, extremely anxious as to who would win the duel.

"Alright, ready?" I say, looking at the contestants, eager to begin.

"3… 2… 1… _GO_."

And… there off. Drink after drink, they kept chugging. The cheers were evenly distributed. The noises of glasses hitting the table sounded everytime a drink was sculled. It was intense, so intense that some others decided to see what was going on.

" _Drink, Drink, Drink, Drink…_ " was all that could be heard around me.

They were on their 12th glass now.

Lou Ellen: *gulp* Clint: *gulp*

Lou Ellen: *gulp* Clint: *gulp*

Lou Ellen: *gulp* Clint: *gulp*

Lou Ellen: *gulp* Clint: *gulp* (A little bit slower this time.)

Lou Ellen: *gulp* Clint: Glass hasn't even touched his mouth yet…. *gulp*

Lou Ellen: *gulp* Clint: Still recovering from the last shot….. *gulp*

"Ya give up, Clint?" Lou Ellen says, immediately drinking another.

"N — n — no." He struggled to swallow the next glass.

Lou Ellen was still going strong.

I think it's time to call it. Clint was already drooping on the table.

I grab Lou Ellen's hand and raise it up into the air. Announcing her the victor. Half the crowd cheers whilst the other accepts the defeat. I see a couple of pouches filled some sort of currency being tossed around. Clint hangs his head in shame as he is dragged off by Lou Ellen to what I assume will be his new makeover.

"Alright… who's next?"

* * *

A couple more rounds went on. The two aphrodite twins. They both conked out at the same time. Then Brooke and Clarence, which was fairly even until Brooke decided to forfeit. Then Amelia against Rex, our very own _Brian May_ … Amelia won. Boy that girl is full of surprises.

Next was Freddie and Vern, in which Vern actually managed to put up a good fight but was ultimately defeated by Freddie. After that, came Malcolm and Clovis. It wasn't even a competition because Clovis just fell asleep after the first drink.

Then, Lou Ellen comes back with a not-so-happy Clint. She hides him first before showing us, like she was going to present him in a very fashionable way.

" _Tada_!"she says as Clint steps out. We all burst into laughter as we see that on the back of his trench coat. It was a bright purple, glittered image of a rabbit being pulled out of a hat and the words ' _Real Magic'_ underneath. It may not sound as bad, but _Clint_ hated it when people assumed that the rabbit out of a hat was a real, or even a _good_ magic trick. He dug his face into his hands as he sat down on one of the seats nearby.

"Okay, who has the bad luck of facing me," Connor says, cracking his knuckles and shifting his neck. He had the most pompous smirk on his face.

"Because I tell you, I'm a master when it comes to these things."

He looks around to see if anyone was up for the challenge but no one seemed to volunteer. And most of us has already had a go. We made a rule that you could only go once — we _are_ sensible people you know?

Connor scoffs, "I thought so —"

"I'll do it."

We all turn our heads to the sound of the voice, which lead us to the someone behind the drink bar. The voice belongs to Diana.

"I'll take ye on… if you've got the balls lad," Diana had pure evil written all over her face.

Connor gulps, "Well, I think that I might have to go —"

"IT'S settled," I announce before Connor could make a run for it.

"Connor vs Diana."

Diana asked one of the Romans too take over her shift from the drink bar for a while. She then sits down on the seat to my left, smiling like a mad woman. Connor sat down on the seat to my right — well, more like dragged.

"And… _BEGIN!_ "

They start chugging, glass after glass, bottle after bottle, they keep drinking. Everyone around us were fully into was going on right now. It was the rivalry of the century. Back at Camp, everyone knew Connor and Diana always had unsettled business.

It continues, neither contestant giving up. They keep drinking. It goes on for a _long_ 3 minutes. I'm not sure if _I_ could even survive that long — and I've had my fair share of drinking games. Soon enough, on the 22nd glass, Connor starts to slow down. His movements felt heavier and his gulps looked like they stung as if they were poison. Meanwhile, Diana wasn't even phased. Though you gotta give some props to Connor for hanging on this long. But nevertheless, Connor gives in and hangs his head low in shame.

I raise Diana's arm in the air and claim her the victor.

" _Every_ …" *burp* "... scotswoman knows how to…" *burp* "... handle their ale."

"It's not ale, though —"

" _Whatever!_ "

* * *

After the games, most of us had to take a break for a moment. You don't just recover that easily from a couple of drinks. Me, however just stood around and talked to the Romans while the others replenished themselves. I managed to get to know the bassist and the drummer that played with Clarence, their names being Robert and Josh. Good guys. I also got to know a few more as well. One of them suggested that I should play a game called _Mythomagic_ — but I wasn't interested. Might suggest it to Clint though.

 _I need some fresh air_. I wanted some time to myself. So I walk through the crowds of people and managed to get outside of the Mess Hall. I find a little mound of grass, secluded from everything else and far enough from the Mess Hall for anyone to notice me. _Wow_ , the sky is so bea— okay this is boring. Be right back. I run to the barracks building where we were staying, grab my backpack that I brought and went back to the hill.

Okay, now where we? Oh yeah...

 _Wow_ , the sky is so beautiful. The stars are even better. I managed to make out some of the constellations. One was shaped as a bear, I do believe in Greek mythology that is Ursa Major. Another that looked like a dolphin, Delphinus? I think. And one more that I wasn't familiar with. A woman with a bow and arrow, aiming it at the side, like a hunter.

I look into my bag to see if there's anything there that could keep me occupied. Snicker bar, no. Sleeping bag, meh. Some money, I don't need that right now. _Ah_ there it is. My book. I had been reading it privately for the whole trip. It was Lord Of the Rings: Two Towers. I've read all three before and the movies are my absolute favourite.

I then proceed to delve myself into the world of Tolkien. I read chapter after chapter in the silent night sky, with the very distant chatter of people from the Mess Hall.

I think I hear footsteps… _nah_ , just ignore it.

All of a sudden, something collides with my head. It feels like small pebble. I yell in pain as I start rubbing the area of my head where the pebble hit. I turn around to find the culprit, to only see that it was Amelia.

"Oh, it's _you_ ," that came out nastier than it should have.

"Well, I'm sorry," she says, "didn't mean to _interrupt_ your private time."

"Well you did so…"

"What are you doing here anyways?" She asks.

"Fresh air. How bout you?"

She shrugs, "the same."

She walks towards me and sits down at my side, looking at what was keeping me so preoccupied. (Hey that rhymes)

"Watcha reading?" she asks.

"Lord of the Rings," I answer, still paying attention to the page I'm on.

" _Oh_ , I love that series. Which one?"

 _Ah-ha_ , someone who appreciates the world of Middle-Earth. I turn to the cover of the book, more engaged with speaking to her now.

"Two Towers," I tell her, "I'm just reading it again."

"Nice. What part?"

"The Destruction of Isengard."

Her face lights up, "I _love_ that part. The way the ents and huorns completely annihilate them."

I smile, "Exactly."

She then looks at me with her amber eyes, looking like they glowed in the dark.

I close my book and put it back in my bag. I then turn to face her.

"I think we got off on the wrong foot," I say, "so let's start over."

I swipe my hand across my face, changing it to a blank expression.

"Nice to meet you. I'm Jedediah Graves, son of Athena"

She laughs, "Jedediah?"

" _Yep_. You're lucky. You're one of the few people that know my actual name."

"Well, ok _Jedediah_ ," she says mockingly, but it seems more playful than hurtful, "I'm Amelia, Amelia Brunhilde. And the reason I'm lucky is because I'm the daughter of Fortuna, or in your case, Tyche."

"Huh, I guess luck _is_ a lady tonight."

She sighs, "Oh please, I've heard that one _way_ too many times."

"Also, Brunhilde?" I ask, "Is that German?"

"Yes it is. Also fun fact, Amelia actually comes from the Germanic term _amal_ , meaning work. Sadly, something I do too much of."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I've been working my ass of to try and get to _at least_ the Centurion position. Then… Praetor."

I let out a low whistle, "That's some pretty big goals."

"Yeah — that's why I work too much."

"Well… I think I'll still call you, _Rapunzel_."

"Cause of the hair?" she asks.

"Sure."

"Well… I think you're too dumb to be a son of Athena."

" _Hey!_ "

* * *

 _ **Hey guys! I'm back again.**_

 _ **Hope you liked the first chapter into our unofficial ACT 2.**_

 _ **If you have any feedback, just leave a review. :)))))))**_


	23. And The Oscar, Goes To

_**Clint**_

I wake up in my bed. It was still early. I look around to see that the others were still asleep in their bunks. We had been provided with a nice room in one of their barracks. However, something felt strange this morning. I wasn't sweating, I wasn't struggling to breath, my thoughts were clear and nothing was on my mind. That was the first night I've had in awhile that didn't contain dream consisting of something to do with Romans.

But… was it really over? After, everything?

All of a sudden doubt started flowing through me.

Sure, Brooke apparently smashed it at the Senate and Percy said she _practically_ won the debate. But there was still a chance we might not have. They never officially announced the votes. Had we celebrated too early? I still feel like something is missing from the equation.

Why hypnotism? Who is the man with the stopwatch?

 _Stop_ , I tell myself. It's over. There is no more Civil-War. Just take a break.

I stand up from my bed and reach for my trench coat. I grimace at the sight of what has become of it. Lou had the wonderful idea of adding _this_ to the back. _Gods_ , I hate this magic trick… It's not _EVEN_ a magic trick!

I sigh and just put it on. I enter the bathroom and look at my reflection, my hair was all over the place. I rub my hands with some gel and puff up my hair, the little silver patch, sticking out at the front. I walk back into the room to grab my things and see that Jet had just woken up as well. He yawns and arcs his back.

"Morning…" He says wearily.

"Hey," I reply.

"What are you," *yawn*, "doin?"

"I don't know," it was true, I honestly had nothing else to do.

"Well…" he gets up from his bed and grabs his leather jacket, the Owl symbol that had been burned onto it when he was claimed was still there. "...since I'm already up and you are too. Let's go train."

I shrug, "Sure. I'll give you some time to get yourself ready."

He then shakes his hands through his brown, messy hair. It makes no difference whatsoever from when he woke up.

"Ready."

"Really?" I say, "that's not even — you know what nevermind. Let's just go."

"Would you two just shut up and leave already?" we hear a voice grumble from one of the beds.

The person sits up on their bed, with red eyes and hair that looks like it went through a tornado.

"Oh… sorry Beethoven," Jet says, "we'll leave."

She falls straight back into her pillow, mumbling something about not to call her that name.

Then, me and Jet both proceed to — silently — walk outside the bulding and start heading for the field of Mars.

* * *

 _BOOM!_

" _Jesus_ man! I thought you said it was _accurate_!"

"I said it's _usually_ accurate."

"Whatever, lets try again."

Jet holds out his hands, wearing his cestuses and braces for impact. I take out another card and mutter the words Astrapí. Then a symbol of a lightning bolt flashes on the card and starts crackling electricity. I place them in Jet's hand.

"Okay, now carefully… crush it."

Jet looks at the card momentarily, then takes a deep breath. He slowly crushes it with both hands. At first nothing happens, and then lightning starts surging threw his cestuses.

"ALRIGHT!" Jet screams.

He starts punching into the air and the a wave of electricity emerges from the ends of his fist. Now with a massive smile on his face, he leaps and slams them on to the ground. It then releases a cone of lightning, flowing through the ground. Don't ask how.

" _Nice_ ," I say, "Let's call this, the… Fists of Zeus."

Jet thinks for a moment then nods, "Fists of Zeus it is."

We continue training for 2 hours our so, coming up with more and more moves. I think we have about 30 moves on our list. Wings of Icarus, Minotaur Rush, Harpy Spike, Poseidon Surge and Hecate's Blade just to name a few. In the middle of one our moves, I see Brooke sit down on a patch of grass, watching us. We continue with our move. I use two of my last three cards for the day to summon a warhammer, perfectly weighted and also summon three shadow dummies in a straight line, to the left us. Jet activates his shield and faces me. I then swing the hammer sideways, hitting the shield, releasing a stream of energy that takes out the three dummies in a row

We hear Brooke clap in the background.

She then says, "So this is what you guys have been doing?"

"Uh huh," I reply.

"How long have you guys been training?"

"Ever since we got here," Jet replies.

"Oh wow, ok."

"Yeah."

We continue to train for another 2 hours and people were now starting to pour in, taking seats near Brooke and having conversation with each other. Connor and Lou and some members of Camp Jupiter were all mingling on the grass. I look at Jet and tell him we should probably take a break, I only had one card left for the day. He agreed and we both began to walk over to our friends. I was about to sit next to Brooke when I see two other people, underneath a tree nearby. It was Petra and Freddie, her head leaning on his shoulder as they enjoy a _lovely_ conversation. I smile and start walking towards them.

"So… how are the love birds?"

They jump back, surprised, and separate themselves when they see me.

"What — _ahem_ — what are you talking... about?" Petra stutters.

"Oh come on, it's so obvious. Freddie practically told me anyways."

She glares at Freddie, "You _WHAT_."

" _NO!_ I did not tell you that."

"I know, but it was written all over your face," I say.

Petra sighs, "we were supposed to keep this… _private_."

"It's _fine_. Petra, come on, it's not a big deal," I tell her.

"I guess…"

"Does Killian know?" I ask, then look at Freddie, "does Vern?"

They both shake their heads.

"Well, you gotta tell them at some point. Anyways, I'll leave you two to your _alone_ time…"

I begin walking away, and I think I heard Freddie trying to jump me but was held back by Petra. I laugh and continue to stroll over to the others.

"Freddie talking to Petra again?" Vern asks out of the blue.

"Yep."

"They're _so_ together."

"What? How'd you know?"

Vern scoffs, "Please… I'm his brother, I know everything."

I shrug, "fair enough."

I sit down in the middle of all of them and start talking. I tell Brooke about how I no longer have any nightmares, which she only responded with a "Cool." I chat with some of the Romans, about stuff, blah blah… Oh yeah and Jet told me about this game called Mythomagic that I should try, sounds interesting. Apparently Rex and some of the others have a session twice a week.

I also tried to get more detail on when Camp Jupiter was attacked by — well us — but Connor pretended to ignore the question. Seems to me that they didn't want to talk about. I mean they haven't said a word about it _at all_ which gives me the impression that they want to keep it that way.

Then questions, about whether we convinced the senate, started getting tossed around. The general consensus says that we gained the majority vote. Vern explained that after Brooke said her piece, a lot of the legionnaires agreed with her and only a few spoke against. Most of them were already on the Greek side to begin with. Only the old-timers, who remembered a world without Camp Half-Blood (even though we've been around longer), are the ones that disliked us. But apparently, even they got swayed. So basically it was almost a guarantee that we won.

"Oh and the official announcements today," says Anderson, one of the Romans.

All of us looked at him surprisingly. It's today?

"Yeah, didn't you guys know? Pretty sure Reyna should've told you."

Me, Brooke and Jet exchange looks and then shake our heads.

"Well now you know."

Then Lou asks, "When is it?"

"Today."

"No, what _time_."

"Oh — pffft, around… seven?"

Brooke pulls out her phone and all the Romans suddenly freak out, including Connor and Lou. She motions her hands up and down, palms facing to the ground as if tell everyone to calm down.

"Don't worry. This doesn't attract monsters. Our very own Killian, son of Hephaestus, found a way to produce phones that aren't monster magnets."

Everyone suddenly starts to steady their movement, their breathing slows. A lot of them then just sits there in amazement of how such a contraption could be made. This whole time they believed that phones were , 'the bane of our existence' but now Brooke's just using it willy nilly.

"It's 1:30 pm right now," Brooke says, "We've got about a couple of hours till the announcement."

"Well, thanks for that piece of information," Jet says and then immediately starts getting up.

"Where are you going?" I ask

"Nowhere."

Brooke, still looking at her phone, calls out to him, "Just don't run into any more doors this time."

Jet shouts back, "Oh… _COME ON_ , that was _one_ time!"

"Doorface," snickers Brooke.

But Jet doesn't bother protesting, instead he just continues to head back to the barracks.

* * *

"Everybody, please take your seats."

We were all, once again in the Senate House. It was going to be the official announcement of what Camp Jupiter decides to do with Camp Half-Blood. Not going to lie, it's kind of nerve wracking and I think I can say the same for my fellow campers. We all sat in the same row, (except for Jet, don't know where he is) watching from the side as Reyna and Frank announced the votes. We didn't say a word to each other cause we're to anxious of what could possibly be the results.

"As some of you may know," Reyna starts off, "tonight we'll be announcing the official votes of the last debate."

Frank then speaks, "Now, there were four options." _Wait,_ four?

"Option 1: Don't break the alliance and forgive them for attacking." Okay, that's good.

"Option 2: Don't break the alliance but take those that attacked, prisoner." Okay, not good.

"Option 3: _Break_ the alliance and take attackers prisoner." Mmm… not a big fan.

"Option 4: Break the alliance but allow the Greeks to go back to there camp." Nope.

All of us were shaking now, even sweating. We were not expecting a variety of options.

Reyna speaks again, "First, we will get rid of the lowest voted."

Then Frank, "Option 3, with only 25 votes, has been taken out."

We sigh in relief. The worst option is out.

"Option,"*cough*, "— sorry —, 2: with only 47 votes, has been removed."

* _Gasp*_ , that's one don't break the alliance out. Well, at least we won't be taken prisoner

"Now, for the last two options, Option 1 and 4."

I hold in my breath, praying to the Gods, _anyone_ , that we manage to pull through. Frank and Reyna both pull out and envelope from their pockets.

It was like the Oscars but Life and Death.

Reyna opens hers:

"Option 1: Don't break the alliance and forgive them for attacking," Reyna pauses, "has a total number of 65 votes."

I have no idea whether that's good or bad.

"Option 4: Break the alliance but allow the Greeks to go back to there camp, has a total number of…" Frank stops, takes out his envelope, opens it and then he sighs, "63 votes! Option 1 has the majority!"

If freeze, time slows down. I couldn't believe it, we won. We actually won. All of a sudden, my row jumps up from their seat and starts cheering, me included. Soon, everybody else does to. I'm assuming the only people left in the Senate House were the non anti-greek because I see a group of people start leaving, with grumpy looks on their faces.

I turn to my left and give Brooke a big 'ol hug. At first she resisted but then embraced. It was over, our quest (secret quest) was complete. This was the real celebration. High-fives went around everywhere. I could also see at the bottom, Percy, Hazel and our Praetors were all chuckling to themselves as if this was all some sort of inside joke.

We then met up with them, Connor jumping on Percy.

"We _did_ it man, we saved everyone."

Percy got up, wiping himself off and smiled, "you sure did."

Then Diana snorts, "He's so happy because this is the first time he ever did anything useful."

"What? NO! I helped with other things…"

He tried to go on about all the great accomplishments he's gained but was overruled by the blaring noise of laughter.

I then see Freddie and Vern try to approach Reyna, but is ultimately ignored. Freddie and Vern slump their shoulders and move on to Hazel. _Gods_ , it's that bad huh?

Then in the corner of my eye, I spot four people enter the room. I turn my head to see that Jet, with Petra, Killian and Amelia, had just came in for the big surprise.

Jet runs up to us, his arms spread like an eagle, " _HEEEEY!_ "

He runs up to our group and starts fist-bumping everyone. Then gives me a handshake, but not like the business kinda ones but more like the ones you do with your friend, the one where you both slap each others hands and grip it like your about to arm wrestle.

"I assume from all the fun you guys are having we won?"

I nod, "Oh yeah."

"Jet!" Brooke calls out, going in for a hug.

"Sup Beethoven."

"We did it!"

"I'm sorry to interrupt but did what?"

All three of us turn around to see utter confusion on Petra and Killians face, Amelia already gone to celebrate with the others. I then look at Jet.

" _Right_ …" he says to them, "Well, this is why I brought you two here. To finally explain."

"Oh good because, I'm pretty damn sure that ' _dropping off the romans'_ doesn't take more than one day," Killian says.

Petra was about to speak but was then grabbed by Freddie who came out of nowhere with an aggressive hug. He lifts her up into the air and spins her around.

"Petra! It's finally over, holy crap!" he then kisses her on the cheek.

"Yes, I know it is, but Freddie…"

They turn around to see us with very questionable looks on our faces, except for me, I was just grinning like a madman. They quickly put distance between them and start glancing in different directions. Both were red like tomatoes.

"Umm, have I been missing something here?" Brooke says.

"I think I have been too," Jet adds.

Then Killian raises his voice, "Oh I've _DEFINITELY_ missed something here. Is this why you're never on the ship?"

Petra gulps, "Yes?"

Killian's stern face then calms into laughter, " _GREAT!_ Finally, you've found someone. Took you awhile."

He then looks Freddie up and down.

"Not what I expected but hey, who am I to judge."

Petra whimpers, "Just, please, everyone… stop. Jet, Brooke, Clint, could you already just start talking so we can change the subject."

"No I kind of like the current one — ow!"

"Of course, Petra," Brooke says, giving Jet a death stare.

Then I speak, "Well… it all started with Capture the Flag."


	24. (Side Chapter) The Coming Storm

"Tell me, why are we're doing'dis again?"

"It's part of the deal, Mikey. We give him the Wolf House and we get full support of his forces."

"I'm sorry boss but I'm with Mikey on this one, I just don't know why we have to throw ourselves with _them_."

"Because… with their help, we'll be unstoppable."

"Heehehehehe, of course, of course. We blow them up!"

"Again with the explosions, Gray?"

"Just ignore her… We've got work to do."

* * *

The night was quiet, the stars white. The Wolf House stood idle in the pitch black forest. Three, wolves, roaming the perimeter, watching for any intruders. A crunch was suddenly heard from one of the trees. A wolf twitches his head in the direction of the sound. The next thing that happens, is a great eagle swoops from the darkness of the sky, almost taking the wolf's head off because of how close it had flown. It then perched up on a branch nearby. The wolf studied it, curious as to why an eagle would be up at this time. The wolf glares at it closer, the eagle now glaring back.

Then… nothing. The last thing the wolf hears is the sound of a gunshot, like a noise cracking through the sky.

The gunshot was heard by the other two wolves. Now on high alert, they scan their surroundings. All of a sudden, a greatsword comes swinging down on one of them, silencing it. The other, gutted by a knife, slowly dug into it's liver.

Inside the house, Lupa, senses the danger and what's to come. She gathers the rest of her pack to wait for the coming storm. Suddenly the doors swing open and a man walks through, his glasses pure black with no light. He swung his stopwatch like a toy.

"So…" he says, "This is where you come to prove yourself worthy. Or seek guidance."

Lupa just snarls.

"And a wolf too," he smiles, "Well, I guess it's better than a _horse_."

"What brings you here, half-blood. Your scent is unfamiliar."

"What brings me here?... Guidance."

He steps out of the shadow cloaking his face, now revealed. Lupa's eyes in shock.

"You — I've heard of you, you're insane for what you did."

"Oh… you want to see insane?"

He snaps his fingers and a woman jumps out from behind him, screaming " _BOOMS"_. Whilst tossing incendiary grenades, lighting the wolves on fire. Another man, steps in and vines start protruding from the ground, choking the already burning wolves.

Lupa, jumps back, dodging one of the grenades and orders one of her still remaining wolves to flee. She stays, standing her ground. A big lumbering figure, comes charging in with a greatsword but she swiftly leaps to the side and swipes her claws at the man. A woman then runs in with what appears to be some sort of rifle and aims it at Lupa. She fires the shot but Lupa, dodging it, runs to the woman with lightning speed and bites the rifle, throwing it across the room. Then vines try to etangle her but she rips the off with her teeth. She was clearly too powerful to fight.

She jumped on the insane person tossing grenades, the person now below her, still laughing.

All of a sudden another figure tackles her off the person and tosses Lupa against the wall.

The figure had skin pale as the moon, teeth sharpened like fangs and it's eyes bright red like a wolf. Lupa growls.

" _You_."

The man with stopwatch stands before her, clapping.

"Quite a show you put on."

Lupa stood firm, her face in anger, her teeth shining the reflection of the man.

"You may kill me, but I've already sent my wolves. They'll know you're here."

He picks up a piece of tapestry, that hung on the wall, containing the symbol of Camp Jupiter and Camp Half-Blood, and throws it on one of the burning corpses of wolves. The symbols burn to ash and the man smiles.

"Perfect."


	25. Let Off Some Steam

_**Jet**_

It's been about 3 days since the votes have been announced and so far, everything's been really chill. Nothing insane has happened, nothing dangerous, nothing monstrous, nothing. We're leaving back to Camp Half-Blood tomorrow, which is great, although a part of me wants to say. I don't know why, I just do. There's something about Camp Jupiter that I'm going to miss.

I take a step outside the barracks and breath in the fresh Roman air. Mmm, smells like wine, like it always does. I see Brooke talking to another person, coming this way. They seemed pretty deep into their conversation, laughing and all, because I waved but she didn't notice.

I run up to her and tap her on the shoulder, "Uh… Brooke?"

She turns away from her friends and looks at me, exasperated, "Yeah, Jet?"

"Nothing, just a… have you seen Clint around?"

She snorts, "Oh yeah, he's apparently playing this _Mythomagic_ game with some of the Romans. I don't know, nerdy stuff."

"Is he available?"

"Well he _is_ playing an _intense_ game of Mythomagic."

"Right. Mythomagic — got it."

Before I could even say goodbye, she walks off and continues her conversation. I then start walking alone through the main street in between the Roman camp, walking past barracks and buildings, nobody seemed to notice me. I guess nobody ever does anymore huh? I mean, even Connor's been a bit preoccupied recently. The only one I've really hung out with is… Amelia — Amelia! I should check up on what she's doing.

I begin to jog with a new excitement to see her. I head for the Principia, she usually likes to hang around there. I reach the massive court area outside the building, the hustle and bustle of Roman campers surrounding me. I look around to see if I could find her but the crowds covered too much. There was no way I could spot her through the bodies of people. All of a sudden I hear someone call my name. I turn behind me to see somebody holding a stack of papers, there face covered by the pile.

"Could… you...help… JET."

I move around the pile to discover that it's Amelia, carrying all the sheets of paper.

"Oh, hey Amelia."

"Yeah… HI… could you help?"

"Hmm… I don't know," I say, "you seem to be handling it pretty well."

She scowls at me, "I… will.. Kill you."

I laugh, "Alright, alright Rapunzel. Don't get your knickers in a knot."

"Who the hell says that anymore?"

"I do," I shrug.

I grab half her pile and follow her. We enter one of the identical white marbled, red tiled roof, buildings and I'm greeted by a familiar sight — a library. Didn't know Camp Jupiter had one till now. Well I guess if the Romans had _one_ thing, it'd be a library. She takes a left, going through one of the isles of books then takes another right to a secluded area with one table. She lays down the papers on the table, I do the same. She sits down and pulls out a pencil that was tucked on top of her ear. She begins vigorously writing on her papers.

I started looking around, whistling and swinging my arms back and forth. I get on the table, sitting right across from her.

"So… am I just gonna —"

"Yes, you're just gonna sit there, now quiet."

I sigh, waiting, waiting, waiting. I look at the clock, tick, tick, tick. That's all I could hear, that and the scratching of Amelia's pencil on the papers.

"Alright come on, I'm bored."

"Deal with it, Jet."

"Please, Amelia. Let's do something."

"I'm sorry Jet, but I _really_ have to work."

"That's it."

I grab her by the hand and start leading her out of the library, she

"Jet, let go... I gotta study."

"Why?" I respond, still dragging her.

"If I have any hope of becoming a Centurion or Praetor, I _have_ to work at it. I have to gain their respect, I need to _know_ the system."

"Jesus, seriously Amelia? You work _everyday_. Can't you let off a little steam."

"I can but…" she sighs, there's no point. I'm practically carrying her now.

"Fine."

" _ALRIGHT!_ " I fist bump the air.

"SHHHH, this is the library."

"Ooh, sorry."

* * *

"Where are we Jet?"

"You'll see."

"Why do we have _two_ bowls of wine."

"You'll. See."

We waited on top of the Senate House, on some form of balcony. I sat on the railing, just waiting. Yeah… a lot of waiting today. Soon, somebody walks out of the door. I grab the bowl of wine and get ready.

"Wait, that's Michael Kahale," Amelia says, "What are you going to —"

Then _splash_ , I dump the whole bowl of wine onto the Roman demigod, soaking him completely. He screams in annoyance and looks up to find the culprit. I manage to quickly hide away, whilst trying to keep silent. Which was pretty hard because I was laughing my ass.

Amelia just looks at me in shock, "What are you doing!?"

"What?"

"That's the Centurion of the First Cohort, I can't —"

"Hey! Who was that?" The Roman centurion yells.

Then another one comes out, "What? What's wrong? Why are you covered in wine?"

Before he could answer, another waterfall of wine comes pouring down, this time on the new guy. I look down at my hands. _I_ didn't do that. I look to my left to see Amelia holding an empty bowl, covering her mouth trying not to laugh.

I smirk, "Now, _who_ was that?"

"Larry," she says in between laughs, "Centurion of _my_ cohort, kind of a dick."

"You evil, evil Roman."

"Oh… you have no idea."

We sneak around some sort of building, don't know what it is. Amelia just kept telling me, "You'll see." On the other side of the wall, I could hear clopping of hooves and… neighing? We reach the entrance to the building but is stopped by someone standing in the doorway. It was a glowing man, red-tinted to be exact and he wore a wolf's head.

"That's the Lar guarding the stables," Amelia whispers to me.

"Oh… so we're in the stables huh?"

"Shut up."

Amelia thinks intensely for a moment. After awhile she comes to a conclusion and sighs, "We're going to have to find another way around."

"Or…" I start stepping out.

" _Wait_ , Jet stop!" Amelia tries to grab me but I'm already too far away, walking towards the glowing red man.

"Help!" I run up to it, pretending like I've ran across the whole Campus

He frowns, "What do _you_ want, Graecus?"

"I need… help!" I pant, fake pant, "there's a fight going on in the barracks! They won't stop!"

"A fight? That seems highly unlikely."

"Why?"

"Romans are too civilised for those types of things, unlike you… Graecus."

Graecus? Why does he keep calling me that?

"Look, it doesn't matter! There going to kill each other!"

The Lar shifts uncomfortably, not sure what to do. Whether to believe me or not. I keep up the pressure.

"You _have_ to stop them! Please!"

"How… how do I know you're telling the truth."

"OH come on! Why would I lie, just please help!"

He hesitates, still not sure of what to do.

"Ah, to Pluto with it." And he runs off to the barracks to the 'fake fight'.

Amelia steps out from the shadows, clapping.

"Well, I gotta say, Jet. I'm impressed."

I bow, "Why thank you."

"Never knew you're so good at being a whiny bitch," she laughs.

"Wow, ok," I say, trying not to laugh myself, "that was low."

"Aww," she pouts, "did I hurt your feewings."

"Ha-ha. Now, what did you want to show me?"

She grins and walks over to the closed the doors the Lar had been guarding. She swings both of them open and I almost faint at the sight. On either side of the building, were a row of Unicorns. That's right… freaking unicorns. I couldn't believe my own eyes. For some reason, to me, greek gods were more believable than Unicorns.

"This, this is amazing."

"They really are," she says, petting one of them.

"How come I don't see much of these guys outside?"

She sighs, "Well, there only used for medicinal purposes, never for battle or war. It's not that they're hated or enslaved or anything, they just don't get used as much.

"Well, I think they're pretty cool."

She smiles, "Then hop on."

I stop, "wait what?"

Amelia opens one of the paddock doors and gets on one of the unicorns. The unicorn was pure white, including the hair and had a golden horn, probably one of the most majestic things I've ever seen.

"I think that unicorn matches you pretty well, don't you think?"

She rolls her eyes, "Just get on one already."

I look around at all the unicorns, not sure which one to pick. Then I feel a sudden nudge on my back, I face behind me and look to see a unicorn, eyeing me as if to say, _"You gonna pick or what?"_ It had the same white skin as Amelia's but this time with black hair and a shiny silver horn. Well, I think I found my unicorn. I open the door and the Unicorn immediately leaps out and starts licking me.

"Ah-ha… okay… yeah thanks… please… stop."

I hear Amelia giggle in the background, "I think he likes you."

"Oh, I thought he was going to eat me."

I get up and wipe my clothes down, "You're lucky" I say to the unicorn, "This leather jacket wipes off easily."

I then get on the unicorn, which by the way took several attempts of me just falling on my ass and Amelia non-stop laughing. So… once I got on, Amelia started to instruct me on how to ride. I told her I never rode a horse, or anything, in my life.

"Yeah… I can tell"

"Shouldn't we have saddles?"

"Unicorns don't _wear_ saddles, idiot. They don't like them."

"Ok, so what do you do?"

"Alright, so to make them go forward _slowly_ , just gently tap them on the belly with your feet, don't hit too hard because that'll make them go into a full sprint."

"So… like this?" I gently tap the stomach and the unicorn moves forward at a walking pace.

"There you go!"

The unicorn looks back at me and neighs as if to say "Hurry up already."

"Ok, to turn or move backwards, just grab it's hair _gently_. Don't put too much force into pulling because then it'll just kick you off. You're only using the hair to tell them where to go."

"Can't we just, I don't know, _talk_ to them? They _are_ magical."

"Sure," she says, "If you're a son of Neptune, but you're not."

" _Jeez_ , alright calm down. You sure know your way around one of these things huh?"

"I usually sneak in here when I'm bored."

"Ah… that make sense."

* * *

She continues to give me lessons on how to control my unicorn, which I decided to name Flynn, because why not. I think I may have kicked too hard because all of a sudden, Flynn goes into full gallop and bursts through the doors of the stable.

"Jet!" I hear Amelia call out from behind, her voice getting farther and farther away.

I see the Lar I had tricked return to the stables only to see me riding around on one of the unicorns. His face, turning redder than his glow.

"Holy crap, Flynn! What are you doing?" I see Flynn just roll his eyes and shake his head.

He continues to run past buildings and through courtyards filled with Roman campers. We gallop past one of the barracks, with my friends just sitting outside, their faces in complete disarray.

"Jet?" One of them says.

"Yep!" I scream back, unsure if they could hear me.

Flynn continue to wreak havoc on poor campers.

"Come on man! Work with me." And Flynn just neighs, almost like he was laughing. No, he was laughing.

"Yeah, ok. Thanks for nothing, you useless unicorn."

If this keeps going on any longer, I'm gonna be in serious trouble. Alright, here we go. I grab Flynn's hair _gently_ and pull it in the direction I want him to go. Surprisingly it works, Flynn looking back at me with what looks like a smirk, "took you long enough." At least that's what I _think_ he said. I lead him to the Bath House were I snatch a bucket of water from one of the Romans there. I think I know _exactly_ what I'm going to do with this. I then turn back to the barracks where I last saw my friends. I come back to still see them in shock. I spot Malcolm in the distance. I prepare the bucket of water and do a drive-by splash on him. He was completely drenched. As I gallop away, I could hear the screams behind me. Flynn utters a neigh as I start laughing, almost falling off.

I decide to take him outside into the fields, into the open space. We continue galloping at full speed and the adrenaline overwhelms me. This feels great. It feels like nothing could stop me, all my problems were going away. I spread my arms out and start whooping in triumph.

Soon enough Amelia joins my side with her unicorn, galloping next to me.

"You having fun there?"

"You have no idea, Rapunzel. I think I'm getting the hang of this too."

She grins, "We'll see about that! Finish line is Temple Hill! _Hyah_."

She starts zooming ahead of me and I instantly know what she's trying to do.

"Oh it's on."

I run after her, trying to catch up. There was a good distance gap between us but that gap started getting smaller. We raced through the hills, hooves thundering on the grass. We sped through the sunflower fields, where I almost touched her but she was still ahead.

"Come on, bud, let's do this."

Flynn whines.

"I know, I know you're trying but just pick up the pace."

"What's the matter, Jedediah? Getting tired?"

Wow, ok using my full name. Not cool.

"Oh you're so going down."

We continue riding and soon, we start getting closer and closer to Temple Hill. I know it would be bad to just wreck the place but I didn't care, I was here to win.

"Ok, here we go bud, _show me the meaning of haste._ " Yeah, I know, using a Gandalf quote, ew...

But it seemed to work, Flynn started to speed up and was gaining on Amelia. Amelia turned around to see the shock of me almost surpassing her. She tries to increase her speed but I already zoom past her.

Almost there... almost there... Temple Hill was right there, so close. I was about to cross the finish line until Amelia, somehow, overtakes me and crosses first.

"No way," I say in disbelief, I think Flynn was too.

She circles back towards me and gallops beside me.

" _WOO_! That's how it's done, Roman Style!"

"You, got lucky."

"I'm always lucky," she smirks, "daughter of Fortuna remember?"

"Unfair."

"What about you? Mister Athena child."

I feel offended, I put my hand on my chest, "Excuse me? Athena isn't the god of winning unicorn races."

Amelia starts laughing and I do too. I honestly didn't care that I lost, I'm just glad that I'm here... with her.

But suddenly the laughter dies down and Amelia's face turns into panic.

I didn't know what was happening until I turn around to see somebody walking up to us. It was Reyna, and she was pissed. Next to her was the same Lar that was guarding the stables.

" _Amelia Gerda Brunhilde,"_ Reyna yells across the field.

Amelia get's off her unicorn, "please Reyna, I didn't mean to..."

"Not. Another. Word."

I try to intervene, "Wait, Reyna, it's not her fault —"

"That includes you, Jet." I shut up

Reyna then looks at Amelia, "If you want to become a Centurion, or anywhere _close_ to a Praetor... you better start acting like it."

"Reyna, I can —"

" _ENOUGH!_ "

The yell alone causes the whole field to fall silent, even the unicorns shyed away.

"You're coming with me," She says, "And Jet, bring the unicorns back to the stable."

Reyna starts walking away with Amelia, who wouldn't dare make eye-contact with me. I wanted to tell her that I was sorry, but I couldn't.

 _Come on_ , seriously Jet. You blew it, you screwed up... like you always do. Because of you, she's now on Reyna's naughty list. And you might have just blown her chance of becoming Praetor.

I look back at Flynn, "There I go again, huh, bud? Messing things up, always the inconvenience, every time."

I sigh, " _Every. Single. Time."_


	26. What Is Wrong With Me?

_**Jet**_

" _Jet_! You're gonna —"

"Get it, yeah I know. Thanks Malcolm."

Brooke perks up, "You okay?"

"Yeah."

I slam the door behind me, leaving everybody to their chatter outside. I walk into the 'Greek Room' inside the barracks and lock the door. I lie down on my bed, looking up at the ceiling. I let out a deep sigh into the warm air of the room and ponder. _You_ did it again. Why'd you do it, Jet? Come on. _Gods_ , I'm nothing but a disappoint — you know what, stop. This is just a minor mistake, that's all. Amelia's not going to bein _too_ much trouble, right? Yeah… what if it was like a test, or something? ' _Congratulations, Amelia, you've showed that you can be fun… you're now Praetor.'_

I don't know how their ranking system works.

For some reason, Malcolm's words start running through my mind, " _Good for nothing,", "Useless,", "Won't amount to anything."_ I mentally try and block them out, because _I know_ that's not true. It's not. Life's great right now. I've helped with the mission right? I've gained Brooke, Clint and the rests trust right? I then remember when I tried to ask Brooke about Oscar and how she tried to ignore my question. _No_ , stop it. It was just a sensitive topic, I mean nobody wants to share that. She hasn't told anybody else, right?

I hear a knock on the door, it echoes throughout the silent room.

"Jet?" I hear a voice call out. It was muffled, so I didn't know who it was. "You okay, man? What's going on?"

I didn't have time for this, it's not that I didn't want to talk to _them_. I just didn't want to talk at all. I wanted to be alone…

I look at my surroundings and spot a window, I move towards it and check if it was possible to budge open. I shift the knob to the right and pull up the glass. It took a little bit of force but I managed to make a big enough gap to jump through. I exit the the building via the window, only to find myself at the back, my friends all the way on the other side. I ignore the constant name calls and continue to walk, on my own. What's up with me? I've never reacted like this before. I guess it doesn't feel great to hurt your friends.

I keep walking, anywhere really. I walk through the fields, the principia area, the barracks (though I try to avoid anyone I know). I walk, keeping my thoughts to myself. I'm kind of just having a moment. Like, sometimes I think about Amelia and everything else, and sometimes I think about completely random things. " _I want pizza.", "Is mythomagic actually fun?", "What's God's opinion on this."_ You know, shower thoughts.

I was walking by the Mess Hall when I made the mistake of making eye-contact with Clint, who appears to have finished his session. He sees me and starts heading in my direction. I speed up my pace, not running because that would just seem weird. However fast I was going didn't matter because Clint just ran beside me. _Dammit_ , I should have ran.

He grabs me by the shoulders, "How's it going, Jet?"

I don't respond.

"Having fun? Gonna miss this place?"

No answer.

Clint raises his eyebrow and let's go of me, giving me scrutinizing looks.

"Is everything, okay?"

Alright, there's no point in brooding all day, "Yeah… yeah, it is." Not really.

He frowns and looks away, as if he was thinking of something to say.

"Okay… did you know that earlier, Diana beat the shit out of Malcolm?"

I didn't really care, "Oh, cool"

"Okay, yeah — something's wrong."

"IT's _fine_ ," I try an emphasize but he wasn't going anywhere.

"IT's _not_. Clearly."

I don't say anything, but I just sigh, which was a good enough answer for Clint.

"Alright, follow me."

I'm confused at first to where I could possible be going, but I follow him anyways. He leads me out into the fields, away from everything else. I didn't realise where we were going until I saw it. The massive Argo III sitting on the horizon, idle, waiting to be flown once more.

Deciding that it was a good time for some answers, Clint speaks.

"This is where I usually go to… think — or to be alone."

"Why would you need to —" I suddenly realise, I'm not the only person with problems, "oh."

"Yeah… but it's all good. It's also pretty quiet in there."

"Isn't Killian or Petra usually there though?" I ask.

"Sometimes they aren't, but even when they are, they don't bother you."

Fair enough I guess, It _was_ a huge ship and I suppose there was _one_ space where you could be completely alone. We walk up the metal ramp that lead up into the hull of the ship. Clint lead me through the corridors of the giant vessel and I could hear some clanging come from the engine room. We get closer and closer and I could almost hear some grunts. Once we reached the door to the engine room, Clint opened it and stepped inside. I could see the two Hephaestus kids working on… well, something.

"Hey guys," Clint says, "We're just gonna hang around here for a while, that cool?"

Without even looking in our direction, they give us the thumbs up and we close the door, leaving them to their engineering. Clint and I (very reluctantly) walk over to the games room, it was the room farthest from the engine room. He probably chose this room so we wouldn't hear the constant hammering. I spot a little area on the side with what looks to be a coffee table, couches on both sides. I take a seat in one of them and Clint sits down on the other one. _Oh_ _gods_ , are we really going to do this? I was in no mood to start sharing.

The silence in the room was unnerving, it allowed the _very_ distant clattering of the engine room to be heard.

Clint then spoke, "So what's going—"

"This sucks, _this sucks_ ," I interrupt, "why are we doing this?"

"It's always good to talk about… you know, anything bothering you."

"Yeah, but nothing's bothering me."

He tilts his head to the side, "Really?"

"Yes," I reply.

"Nothing at all?"

" _Nein_."

He looks confused, "9?"

"No — _nein_ ," I spell it out, " _n-e-i-n_ , it's german for — you know what, forget it!"

"Since when did you know german?"

"Am —" I stop myself, "just a hobby."

Clint continues to analyse me, trying to see through the defences I try my best to hold.

He sighs, "well, do you wanna play a game?" Well, that was unexpected.

He looks to the TV to his right. It was connected to an Xbox One and PS4, the controllers lying on the floor.

"What did you have in mind?" I ask him, still slightly surprised.

"Oh I don't l know…" then he smiles, "Injustice 2?"

I couldn't help but smile as well. He grabs the case for the game (the Xbox One, one) and opens it, grabbing the CD inside. He hovers his finger over the power button of the Xbox, turning it on and then inserts the game. The screen turns black and the intro sequence begins, first the little paragraph of writing talking about copyright claims and the logos of the different companies. The menu screen appears and we pick the option to verse each other. He picks Dr. Fate and I pick my all time fave, Bane. Sue me.

Clint stays silent for the majority of the playthrough, besides the occasional "gotcha" or "dammit". He stopped with the questions and that's all I really cared about. I'm just glad I get to do something that distracts my mind. We played 5 rounds, I won the first one, then Clint one with a really lucky super move. I won the next two and Clint won the last.

"Let's go for another?" Clint asks after selecting the _Rematch_ option.

"Sure," I respond.

In the middle of the match, Clint starts to get a bit more talkative.

"So how long have you been playing this game?"

"Well, it only came out two years ago," I say, "but I played the hell out of the first one."

"I wasn't much of a game guy myself, my dad never really bought me any."

"Yeah… my dad used to buy me _tons_ of things until — well, I don't know."

Clint doesn't seem to say anything for a moment, and I think he glanced at me for like 1 second but I wasn't paying attention.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, he was always so proud of me for doing well in school, even if I was a bit of an ass to the teachers. So naturally, he bought me stuff, but I wasn't spoiled. But 6 months later, after I graduated… I don't know."

The memories started coming back.

"He just stopped talking to me. Every time I came back home from a late night, of well… you can guess. He just didn't acknowledge me whatsoever, he just looked so… disappointed. It was the same face I see whenever he talks about Mom, or Athena. I try to talk to him but he ignores me and I get stabbed with — with an emotional dagger, of being a disappointment. But it's not like I haven't heard from it before, the teachers and people around me said the same thing. I didn't care cause my grades said otherwise. But when my dad said it, it felt like —"

I stop. A sudden realization hits me. I look away from the screen to see Clint just smiling. I can't believe it, he made me spill. I don't know how, but he did.

"You — you somehow —"

"Yep," he then presses both triggers on his controller, activating his super which manages to completely wipe my Bane out. " _Gotcha_."

"Son of a bitch," I grunt, "how'd you even do that?"

He smirks, "I have my ways."

"So…" he says, "would you like to continue?"

I look away from him and back at the screen, kind of mad. I click rematch.

"Come on, Jet. You have to tell _someone_. Don't make the same mistake I did."

What mistake? What's wrong with being a bit private? But Clint, tries to push through. What's his deal? My grip on the controller started getting tighter. He was _really_ trying to push it.

"Jet, please," he says in a calm voice, "you could at least tell me something?"

For some reason, I don't know why, but I snapped. For no apparent reason. Clint wasn't being aggressive but I still snapped.

" _Fine_ , you want me to tell you something? Let me tell you something! My, dad, _hated_ me. I was nothing but an _utter_ disappointment. Didn't _matter_ what I did in school, cause in the end I just started wasting my life!"

I didn't know what was happening, it was like I had no control over what I was saying. My emotions overcame my reasoning.

"I _never_ meant to hurt _anyone_ , but I did. _All_ those grades couldn't help me at _all_. To everyone, I was just another disappointment one after the other. So what did I do!? I went to bars, hangout with people older than me, I barely saw my dad, though I didn't want to! I barely went home to the point where I never did. Because That's. All. I. Am. Good for nothing, useless, untrustworthy kid."

Then I started thinking about everyone else.

"Brooke _clearly_ doesn't trust me, Malcolm thinks I'm nothing, Connor just wants me for the laughs and _you_ ," I pause, looking at his blank face, "I'm just your test dummy. And the one person —" I choke, "the one person that _did_ care… Well — well I screw it all up for her as well!"

"What are you talking about Jet?" Clint says, looking worried, "We're your friends."

"NO. YOU'RE. NOT." Did I really mean that?

In a fit of rage, I activate my Cestuses and punch the wall next to me, so hard that it creates a gaping hole. The pain shoots through my arm, but I didn't care. The only thing going through my mind was the vast wave of anger and regret. I storm out of the Argo, not paying attention to the yelling behind me. I start running, anywhere, I didn't care which direction, my mind wasn't thinking straight.

I keep running until I find myself to a place, at first, that I'm unfamiliar with. I look around to see various buildings, all with the separate symbols of the Gods on each one. _Oh_ , I know what this is. Temple Hill.

"Ah… hello _gods_ ," I say.

"Hope you're _watching_ this!" I say, louder this time, "Oh yeah _HI_ mom! Hope you're having fun watching this too. You know, up there, in _OLYMPUS!_ "

I clench my fists, almost ripping threw my gloves. Then I screamed. Letting out all the tension that has been bottling up inside me.

"Do you even _care_ about me? Or anything that happens to us!? Do you just like to watch me, stuff up!?"

 _WHY!? JET WHY!? Why now, what is wrong with you!_

I didn't know where all this was coming from. It was all a blur.

"I... I," I start choking up, "I try to be a good kid... yeah, Jet that's a good one."

What happens next is even more strange, a wolf runs out of nowhere and starts scratching it's neck on my shin. It jumps up and looks at me, trying to get my attention.

"What?" I say, rather annoyed.

He then jerks his head to something in the distance, as if to tell me something.

"Look, wolverine, I don't have time for this, so beat it."

Then something unexpected happens, something that gets my attention and the last thing I would expect.

A gunshot.


	27. Outmatched

_**Brooke**_

The noise booms throughout the entire camp. We see groups of romans start running to the Caldecott Tunnel with their shields and spears. I pull one of them aside and ask them what in _tartarus_ is going on.

"I'm not sure," she replies, "Reyna told us to gather at the Tunnel."

And with that she runs back into her group and to the Tunnel. I look at my friends to see if they had any answers but they were as clueless as me. We were all just sitting here then the gunshot came and now everyone was moving. Just as I was trying to find someone who knew what the hell was going on, Clint comes in.

"Clint!" I call out, "What the hell is going on?"

"I have _no_ clue."

Well great, if Clint didn't know then nobody else did. Then he asks something else

unexpected.

"You guys seen Jet?"

Before I could answer Connor steps in, "Funny you should ask… because we were wondering the same thing."

Just as Clint was about to respond, another sound echoes through the air. This time it was bigger than a gunshot, more like an explosion.

"YO! What are you guys doing?"

We turn around to the sound of the voice and running down the road, was Percy Jackson. He had Riptide activated in his hand.

"Stop standing around!" he orders, "We've got a situation."

None of us wanted to argue, we all wanted to know what the heck was going on. I quickly run inside and grab my gear, slinging my violin on my back and turning the bow into my knife. We all follow Percy to the Caldecott, passing by other groups of Romans getting ready. Though I did see something that strikes me as strange. Compared to everyone else's frantic moving, I see _one_ Roman, Rex. Walking. Completely calm about the whole situation. He was whistling the tune of "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow". I would have said something but he looked completely harmless. I ignore it and we reach the Caldecott. All of us stood on the other side of the Little Tiber. The place was already packed with romans pointing their weapons at the opening. We meet up with Hazel who was in the middle of crowd, next to her was Frank.

"Hey guys," Percy says.

They didn't respond, eyes fixed on the entrance.

"Clarence, what's happening?" A voice asks.

I turn and see that it was Rex, asking Clarence — wait Rex?

"Hey, Rex, weren't you just walking in the other direction a minute ago?"

"What?" he replies, confused, "What are you talking about?"

"Nevermind."

 _Weird_.

As I looked over the heads of the Legionnaires and across the river, I could see three figures standing in the dark opening of the tunnel. My heart stops when I identify one of them. In the middle stood the stopwatch man, still swinging it. He wore the same round shades and his three piece suit vest. I didn't know who the other two were. On the right was a girl, breathing heavily and her hair all over the place. She had two sashes crossing her chest, each holding a number of different sized… metal balls? Her eyes were bloodshot and she looked kind of insane. On the other side, the man on the left was the opposite. He wore a purple suit and black shoes. He looked completely laid back. His hair was slicked to the side and had a moustache like your stereotypical french man.

"What, a lovely turnout!" The stopwatch man said in his english accent. But it wasn't posh. It was more rough like… Jason Statham. "So glad you could all come out today!"

Reyna steps forward at the front of the crowd and into the river (which was only knee deep, "You are trespassing on Roman grounds! Leave. Now."

"Awww," the man fake pouts, "aren't you gonna welcome a fellow demigod?"

The groups of people started to disperse in silent conversation.

"A demigod?" Malcolm whispers, "he looks too old."

I didn't really know how age defines whether you're a demigod or not, but it _is_ slightly strange to see one as old as him.

"Why should we welcome you?" Reyna shouts back, "you clearly come hear with aggression, especially with that… that gun you carry."

Everyone gasps, some even afraid. A _gun?_ Where is it? I couldn't see it from afar. At a second inspection I could see the pistol holstered at his side.

"Do you think this has any relation to do with the other guy with a gun?" Lou Ellen asks.

Percy responds, "Definitely."

Now, back to evil gun guy.

"Can I not provide myself with protection, Praetor?" The man says back.

"Not with protection like that," Reyna barks.

The man doesn't say anything, then he laughs.

"You see? That's what's wrong with you half-bloods. Always the same system. Never striving for change. That's why you're all _weak_."

"I've heard enough!" somebody calls out.

All of a sudden an unknown Roman runs out from behind Reyna, who tries to stop them, but ultimately fails. The Roman points his spear forward and charges at the man, but the man just smiles. He steps to the side, grabs the spear from his hand and turns it back to the Roman, stabbing him in the gut. The roman keels over on the ground in front of him, blood pouring from his wound.

" _Tsk tsk tsk_ , you shouldn't have done that," he says, "Now look at ya, your bleeding everywhere."

The man sighs, he takes out the pistol from his holster and without hesitation, without even _looking_ , he pulls the trigger and silences the Roman who was already bleeding on the ground. The sight was horrific, even Reyna was paralysed with shock.

"You see, I didn't want to do that, but he forced my hand."

Then, another explosion sounds off. All our heads turn behind us. Oh my _gods_ , smoke was emerging from New Rome. More explosions occur and soon the roofs of the city were burning. All those people, the screams… What was going on?

"Out with the old… in with the new," the man smiles to himself.

Reyna, in pure anger, screams.

" _ROMANS!_... ATTACK."

At the signal, every roman begins to rush forward, all motivated to stop this mad man. We Greeks follow suit. We charge with our Roman allies towards this new threat. Percy uses the water from the Tiber to create a wave to surf on whilst Hazel pushed to the front with Frank who turned into a giant bear. I look at the three figures, still standing there unphased, not caring at all about the fact that over a hundred angry Romans were currently charging at them.

I see the man in the middle look to his left. I could barely make out what he said, "Drell."

The man in the purple suit then nods and pulls back his sleeves. He shifts his neck left and right and closes his eyes. All of a sudden a wall of vines surrounded our entire force, which was a big one by the way. It was more powerful than anything I've ever seen. The wall was so long that it surrounded a whole field (including part of the river), with us in it. Then, the crazy lady starts pulling off those metal balls on her sashes and starts hurling them into the trapped demigods. I suddenly realise those aren't metal balls… those were grenades. The ground shook and campers were blown away. Another person emerges from the tunnel. A woman with an eagle resting on her shoulder. She wore your classic cowboy aesthetic, hat and all. She held a gold and bronze rifle in her hands. The man looks at her and nods. She then attaches what looks to be some sort of scope to the rifle and starts raining down a hail of bullets onto the unsuspecting victims with deadly precision. All around, bodies were dropping like flies.

Everything was going to hell. I didn't know what to do, it was too much to comprehend. I had never seen anything so terrifying in my life. Fire erupted from the ground and gunshots cracked through the air. So much… death. There was nothing we could do, we were stuck.

I ask frantically "What do we do?"

"I don't know!" screams Clint.

"I. Am. So. Done. With. This. SHIT!"

We hear Percy scream at the top of his lungs, his hoodie was half burned from the explosions. Suddenly, all the water from the River started draining, being sucked towards Percy. The river started getting smaller and smaller as the water around Percy started getting bigger and bigger. Soon enough, a tornado of water surrounded Percy. We just manage to see Percy inside the cone of water.

"You might want to brace yourselves," Hazel warns.

Then the cone of water shoots out in all directions, washing through the campers and extinguishing all the fires. The surge of water was _so_ strong that it knocked most of us with it, sending us extremely far back. The water strikes the vine wall and completely blows through it, destroying the entire wall surrounding us. I gasp for air after being hit by that colossal wave. All of us were soaking wet on the ground, coughing out the water.

"Did he," *cough* "really have to do that?" complains Malcolm.

"No, but he broke the walls and that's good enough for me," says Clint who immediately starts charging towards the evil demigods once more. I look at the everyone else and just shrug. We all charge in with him. As we got closer to the Caldecott Tunnel (Percy pushed us pretty damn far), we could see some fighting already commencing. Percy and Reyna were clashing with the enemy. As we kept running, Freddie and Vern joined alongside us.

"Any idea who these assholes are?" Says Freddie.

Diana chuckles, "Nope, but they are assholes."

The sound of weapons clanging and bombs exploding got closer. I could see that Percy and Reyna were holding off Drell and the crazy girl. Vines wrapped around Drell's arms, using them almost like weapons and the crazy girl were lobbing sticks of dynamite at Reyna who was barely dodging them. Meanwhile the stopwatch man just stood watching, smiling even. I scanned around to look for the woman with the sniper but didn't see her anywhere. All of a sudden I got pushed to the ground as I hear a bullet whiz by my head. I realize what just happened, Clint had just saved me from an incoming bullet that came from the sniper woman. I look up to see her perched on top of the tunnel. She aimed down her sight once more, firing another bullet. We all ducked for cover, even though there wasn't much of it. It was an open field.

"We're sitting ducks!" calls out Connor.

"Any ideas?" Frank asks, no longer in bear form.

"I got one," Clint says, "but you _have_ to follow my lead."

We all nod, we didn't have any other ideas. Clint jumps out into the open and pulls out a card, whispering something. Another shot fired but was deflected by some form of energy shield in front of Clint. Remembering to "follow his lead", we all follow behind him as we start moving up to the Tunnel. The shots keep coming but are only blocked by the shield Clint had summoned.

"Alright game plan!"

"We need to take out that shooter," Says Clint.

"Yeah, well… we need to take out all of them!" Connor yells in frustration.

"Priorities first."

"Okay Clint, fine, how do you propose we get all the way up there?"

It was true, the Caldecott tunnel itself wasn't too big but there was no visible way to climb up it. How the woman got up there in the first place baffles me.

"I could boost somebody up with a gem mountain?" Hazel suggests having to shout over the explosions, "only two people though."

Then the woman yells:

"Mikey!" weirdly, in an Australian accent, "get your ass in here!"

As if right on cue another man comes out from the tunnel.

He was massive. He wore a red shirt and a white tie. He wore black overalls and grey suit pants. His hair was greased back and he looked like one of those old Mafia gangster. He tugged on the huge greatsword on his back and started walking towards us.

"Well you better come up with something quick," Frank says, "cause we're running out of time."

And out of pure instinct he transforms back into a giant bear and charged the new threat. He started wrestling with the mafia man, who was surprisingly holding his own. Every wide sword swing of his greatsword was knocked to the side by the giant bear. The bear (aka Frank) stood up on two legs and swung downwards with his razor sharp claws but as the claws were just about to connect, the man steps to the side and swings his sword at the bear. The bear roars in pain as it suffers a cut on its side. It wasn't looking good.

"He'll be fine!" Hazel tells us, "he's faced worst."

For some reason, I had no trouble in believing that.

"Right."

"Okay… so what's the plan?" _*BANG*_ another bullet hits the shield

"I think we should go with —" _*EXPLOSION*_ , "—Hazel's idea," yells Clint.

"Who's going up though?" asks Connor.

To hell with it, I say to myself.

"I —" _*BANG*._ The noise cuts me off.

"What?"

"I said I —" _*BOOM*_.

"Who?"

" _ME!_ " I shout in frustration.

"Great," says Hazel, "Now one more… uh… Connor, you go."

"Wait, _what!?_ Why me."

"You'll do great, lad," Diana smiles, patting him on the shoulder.

"I didn't sign up for _thiiiiissss….._!"

The voice trails off and echoes as we get boosted up by a mound full of gold, diamond and silver. Using the momentum we leap off the mountain and land on the same ledge the woman was standing on. She turns to us and fires another bullet in our direction, Connor jumps forward and deflects it with his sword, charging straight towards her. The woman whistles and her eagle soars from her shoulders and straight into Connors face. I can hear him scream in annoyance as he tries to swat away the eagle from his face. Well, I guess it's my turn.

I run up behind the poor demigod currently being attacked by the eagle and slide between his legs, knife in hand. Once I slid past him, I switch to standing on my legs and jump towards the woman, knife pointing straight at her. She blocks it with the side of her rifle and pushes me backwards.

"Like my gun?" she asks, "made it myself, fashioned after a Winchester."

I swing at her again but she just dodges it.

I hear her chuckle under her breath, "Oh, you're a feisty one. Better than that _bloke_."

"Hey! I heard tha — _AH_!" Connor yells, "get this — stupid eagle off me!"

"He may be an idiot… but you're a psychopath," I reply to her, face stern.

"I heard that too— _STOP!_ "

"You would have been a good hunter," she says, her Australian accent was so strong that I expected her to say—

"... But that's not a knife, mate," she says looking at the weapon in my hands. She then pulls out a massive, thick bush knife from her waist, "Now _that's_ a knife."

— _Nevermind_.

I smile, "...still hurts, though."

I thrust my knife forward, aimed at her chest but the she ducks. I just thrusted into open air. She completely disappeared from my vision. When I saw her, it was already too late. When she had ducked, she grabbed my thrusted out arm and used my weight to judo throw me on the ground. I lie there stunned.

"Has the attitude to be a hunter," she says, "yet lacks the skill."

I quickly stand up and start swinging at her, using everything I know but she gracefully just blocks them. I strike left _*block_ *, I strike right * _parry*_ , I strike in a downwards motion * _steps back*._

"Didn't know we were here to dance?" she says, infuriating me even more.

I thrust at her again but she moves to the side and trips my leg. I fall flat on my face again.

"Watch your footwork."

 _Dammit_. I jump up on my feet again and in a ditch attempt, I swing my knife at her. But this time at the last second, I feint it. I pretend to try and hit her on her side, causing her to move her knife in that direction but I stop at the last second. With my other hand, I grab the violin on my back and strike her on the side that wasn't defended. She _surely_ couldn't block this.

But somehow, with lightning speed, she uses her other free hand (which I forgot she had) and grabs the violin, stopping it mid swing.

"Cute instrument," she grins, "but just a piece of _wood_."

She then kicks me in the chest, knocking me back.

I didn't know what to do, I was completely outmatched. I suddenly hear an eerie howl, making the hairs on my skin stand up. I look at the chaos below. To see that my friends were being overrun by a dozen Lycanthropes (werewolves). What the hell was going on? Why are there Lycanthropes?

Frank was fighting his own battle but even _he_ was starting to lose. His movements slowed down and he limped on one leg. I look at Percy and Reyna. Percy wasn't harmed, he fought alone, striking down every vine thrown at him but he was starting getting exhausted. Reyna, backed up by Freddie and Vern, was nowhere near to touching the crazy girl because they were too busy dodging explosions. The situation was _bad_. During all of this, the Man just stood at the entrance, smiling, swinging his stopwatch and occasionally catching it.

It was useless, we were all _outmatched._

* * *

 _ **OOOHHHH.**_

 ** _BIG BATTLE SEQUENCE. Shit's starting to get real now. I hope you guys enjoy the future upcoming chapters._**

 ** _Please leave a review!_**


	28. Surprise

_**Clint**_

The howls of wolves echo in the air. We all look to the darkness of the tunnel. The shadow of a wolf-like creature comes into view, then another, and another, and and another until there are about dozens of them. All Lycanthropes hungry, for what I assume is, demigod blood. And still, the man just stood there, stopwatch in hand smiling. One of the Lycanthropes stand next to him, but unlike the previous people, he tries to assert himself over the other. The man doesn't seem to care.

"Welp… it was fun while it lasted guys," Malcolm says grimly.

"Oh cheer up ya wee bastard," Diana says, somehow looking at the situation with a smile, "It's just getting started."

"I don't know, this bunch isn't something you mess with," Hazel warns, "I've faced them before, but not as many as this. And Lycaon? He's even worse."

As if to prove her point, the Lycanthropes begin running from the tunnel, the black wave of bodies blocking the ground. Their teeth as sharp as daggers and their eyes as red as blood. They didn't bother attack those already preoccupied with an opponent, they just went straight for us: the unprepared, slightly freaked out (except Diana) half-bloods. I look around at my fellow comrades in arms, their weapons ready.

"We're probably going to die," I say.

"Yeah, but we usually always are," they smile back.

"Yep."

We then charge straight towards the line of werewolves. Vern let off a volley of arrows into the swarm. Most of his arrows hitting it's mark, injury some and turning others to dust. One would have leaped straight onto me if it's eye hadn't been hit by an arrow shaft. Diana just jumps straight in, going right into the middle of them, slashing away at the bodies of fur. Her axe was like a meat grinder, the sound of the slashing and crushing was almost like music. That's probably why she named it _Bloodsong_.

Alright… I got 6 cards for the day, let's use them wisely. I take out one of the cards in my sleeve and hold it firmly in my hands. I speak the words, _Aspída_ and a shield materialises onto my hand. Can't go wrong with a bit of protection. I then pull out my three throwing knives and hurl them into the crowd of monsters, everytime I ran out it would just reappear into my hand. On my left, one of the lycanthropes strike at me, it's mouth trying to bite my face off. I block it with my shield and stick one of my knives into it's liver, causing it to immediately turn into dust. Another one tries to run straight towards me but I slide between it's leg and chuck a knife to the back of it's head.

I look around me and see that Freddie was being bogged down by three of them at once. He was deflecting all the bows with his staff at monstrous speed but he couldn't keep it up for long. I run to his aid and throw three more knives, simultaneously at all three of the wolves. Freddie stands there in surprise for a moment but went back to fighting. I join up with him, we were now back to back facing the hordes.

"I had it handled you know," he says, whilst whacking a Lycanthrope across the jaw.

"I know you did," I reply with a smirk, "... but I couldn't let you die."

He looks at me questioningly, then realises what I implied. "Seriously? We're still on this." He spins and swipes through two monsters, one after the other.

"Yep," I hit one right between the eyes, "And it's gonna be a _while_ till I drop it."

Freddie was about to say something back but was interrupted when a Lycanthrope leaps at his face. He manages to stop it by jamming his quarterstaff in between it's jaws. The monster sticks there, trying to claw at Freddie who was using all of his strength to hold the monster back. He then kicks the monster in the stomach, pushing it back a couple feet. When it tries to strike him again, he bonks it on the head, leaving a deadly bump.

"These guys just keep coming don't they?" He pants.

"Yeah, just like that harpy attack on the Argo," I reply.

He looks at me, slightly confused, "you and I remember the Harpy attack very differently."

All of a sudden a huge pile of earth pushes up into the sky, sending about 6 werewolves flying in different directions. I'm guessing that would be Hazel. We keep at it. Each of us, in our own little groups spread throughout the entire field. Unless your Diana who likes to kill things all on your own.

My shield spell had just run out and I had used two more cards to summon more weapons. Vern was on top of some sort of jewel mound, shooting off arrows in all directions, luckily managing not to hit any of us.

A werewolf slashes it's claws at me but I didn't react in time because of the exhaustion of having to fight constantly. It slices my shoulder, ripping through my coat and leaving a nasty, bloody gash on my arm. I scream in pain and somehow retaliated by stabbing the wolf on the heart. My vision was getting blurry, the pain was pulsing through my arm and entire body. The others weren't starting to do so good either. From the looks of it, Lou had run out of spells and was forced to use her sword. Freddie also had a couple red marks on his face. There were too many and no backup was coming. Half of the Romans were either blasted miles away by Percy's water blast or blown up/shot, which is never pretty to imagine. I still had one trick up my sleeve.

"Hey Freddie!" I call out, "I need your help with something!"

"I'm a little busy right now!" He was currently beating the crap out of a Lycanthrope.

 _Shit_ , I can't use this spell without some concentration.

"Clint!"

I look up to the sound of the voice, it was Vern, still shooting from his pile.

"I'll cover you!" he cries to me, "Just make it quick! I don't have many arrows left!"

Oh yeah… make it quick, that should be easy.

I take out the card and start concentrating. I could hear the whizzing of arrows past my ear as it digs into the flesh of monsters. I feel something tug my shoulder but the feeling is immediately gone as I hear the little dust _poof_. I still had my knife in hand just in case. After a couple more seconds I shout the words _Fotiá tis orgís._ It was the same spell I used when the harpies attacked and it does the same exact thing as it did then. 20 balls of fire shoot from the ignited card and incinerate about 20 werewolves, around us. It took out a huge chunk out of there forces but there's still 30 of them of left. Things weren't looking too good.

And as if it couldn't get any worse:

" _Incoming!_ "

All of a sudden a bear (aka Frank) is thrown straight at us, almost hitting me and Freddie if Vern hadn't warned us. The bear's body slides past us, knocking into three Lycanthropes. It lays there, still breathing but bloodied. I look in the direction Frank was thrown and see that tall man, dressed in his red shirt and black tie. I think the sniper woman called him 'Mikey' and he must have been at least seven feet tall. His hair glistening in the sun from all the grease. He walks towards us, through the crowds of wolves. Mikey had a devious smirk on his face and cracks his knuckles.

He laughs, "That all you got, tough guy?"

He then unsheathes the massive sword on his back, wielding it with both hands. It looks like it's made out of imperial gold. I look back at Frank, still unconscious, unable to move, he must have taken a pretty serious hit. Hazel rushes to his side and tries to get him back up. The rest of the werewolves were facing the others, leaving Freddie and I to our new enemy. I look at Freddie and nod… we charge.

I throw three of my knives at the man but he quickly deflects all three with his sword. I curse, does everybody have to be so frickin good?

Freddie, however, doesn't hesitate and rushes right in. He swings his staff right at Mikey's head but Mikey dodges it, which is very surprising for someone his size. Freddie tries to sweep his leg but Mikey catches his staff with his foot.

Mikey leans in, "I'm sorry… did I step on something?"

Freddie smiles and proceeds to spin kick Mikey in the face. Mikey's head moved an inch, maybe but still didn't flinch. Freddie's smile fades away.

"Hah," Mikey says, "that tickles."

He then steps off the stick and punches Freddie a couple feet back, basically to where I was. Which is a pretty far distance by just being punched alone. Freddie wasn't in good shape. On top of all the bruises he suffered, blood was coming from his nose now and he was struggling to even stand. Mikey just keeps strolling on towards me. _Well_ … this isn't good.

"I Got It!" Vern calls out in the distance.

All of a sudden an arrow starts flying straight for Mikey's head but he just catches it snaps it in half.

"Uh… _don't_ got it!"

Malcolm and Lou try to intervene but just get swatted away like insects. And everyone else… well there a bit occupied right now. It was just me and him.

"How ya doin' magicman?" he growls.

And _wow_ , standing over me, he's a lot taller than before. Apparently seven feet tall makes my neck hurt. It wasn't even a competition. I was like an ant to him. He just smiles as he brings his sword over his head, ready to strike me down. I re-summon my shield in a ditch attempt to stop the incoming blow but my doom was inevitable. The strike is too quick for me to move. I wait for the whole world to come crashing down as I hear a loud:

 _CLANG*_ , followed by grunting and scraping of blades.

I look to see Diana had just blocked the blow. Boy that woman is strong. She then kicks Mikey in the chest, which knocks him off his balance, making him stumble back. A stare down ensued. The red of Diana's axe matching the red of Mikey's shirt.

"You want to go, little girl?"

"Hah! Little girl?" Diana asks, "I mean you're big…" she smiles, "but _I've_ fought bigger."

They run at each other, both screaming at the top of their lungs. A bloody battle of explosive collisions and ground shaking blows occured. I should probably leave them to it.

I look at my right and see Freddie still trying to get up. I run to his side and help him up, having to make him lean on my shoulder. I carried a knife in the other hand, hoping to protect both of us.

"Thanks — man," Freddie coughs.

"Don't mention it… plus I wouldn't want to break Petra's heart."

"If I wasn't half-dead, I'd _literally_ kill you right now."

"Yeah well, maybe you won't have to."

* * *

I scan the sights around me and see everybody regrouping near the river. A the Romans had set up a shield wall, and were defending the river bank. Frank was now back in human form and was currently leaning on Hazel, like Freddie on me. We meet up with them and try our best to fend off the remaining forces. Malcolm, Lou Ellen and Clovis were slashing their swords as fast as they could. Vern let off the last of his arrows. Clarence and Rex were stabbing Lycanthropes with spears. Me and Hazel tried to do our best, whilst still trying to hold up our severely injured friends.

Clovis calls out, "There's too many of them!"

"Oh yeah! Like I didn't notice!" Malcolm barks back.

"Where in _hades_ are Percy and Reyna!?"

As if to answer Lou's question; Percy came staggering back to us, exhausted and scarred. His jacket was half burned and shirt was all ripped.

"What happened to you?" Frank weases.

"Mr. Poison Ivy over there."

He points his finger at the man in the purple suit, his arms wrapped in vines as if they were substitute arms. His moustache curled along with his smile.

Reyna then came flying towards us, then rolling at our feet. She didn't say anything but she didn't have to. Her cape was charred and her breathe was shaking. That crazy girl, holding two grenades was walking towards us, laughing maniacally… and that's an understatement.

"These — these guys are — are…"

"Powerful?" A voice says.

The Lycanthropes had stopped, the fighting had ceased but we were all still shaking. The Romans didn't lower their weapons and neither did we. Coming through the crowd was the man himself, next to him was Lycaon. Even with Lycaon's wolf appearance, I couldn't tell who was more frightening.

" _Lycaon_ ," Reyna grumbles.

The wolfman just snarls with his knife-like-teeth.

"Alright, alright calm down," The man says.

"You don't tell me what to do, _half-blood,_ " Lycaon grows.

"Yes, but the reason you're here is because of _me_."

The two of them glare at each other, but Lycaon gives in and turns back to us.

"What a nice little bunch, huh? The… A-Team you might say."

"What do you want?" Percy asks in an angry tone.

" _Percy Jackson_ ," the man says, "Yes, I've heard of you."

" _Hero_ of Olympus, Son of Poseidon, _Saviour_ of the Gods, One of the _Seven_ … I can go on and on. It's crazy isn't it? Back in my day, we didn't have many glorious heroes, we just went on quests and… ran errands for the Gods. The only title you could gain was, ' _Quest Completer'_ — or something like that. I'm guessing Chiron's more lenient these days."

"Who are you?" I ask, still extremely cautious.

"And… you must be Clint Asher, right?"

My eyes widen, "how do you know —"

"Tell me, how are those dreams of yours holding up?"

"Wait… my dreams?" I say confused.

"I was a bit impressed by the way. Your mind wasn't as _manipulative_ as others. I mean, they pretty much jumped at the idea of Greeks and Romans killing each other."

"You're the one behind all this… you _hypnotised_ us!" Malcolm shouts.

The man claps, " _Bravo_ , you finally figured out. Took you awhile, especially for a child of Athena."

Malcolm looked like he was ready to strike but Lou held him back.

"We _will_ stop you," Hazel says.

The man chuckles, "Stop me?" he puts his hand on his chest, "You _invited_ me."

"The only reason I'm here is because you couldn't even do the simplest task of killing each other, that responsibility now has to fall on to us."

He snaps his fingers and two more people walk through the crowd, the first one was Mikey who held an struggling Diana on his shoulder, throwing her on the ground next to our feet. At first we thought she was fine because of how much she moved, but we now see that her face was swollen and her arms were bloody. The next person was the sniper lady, she was dragging along Connor and Brooke who looked even worse. She lay them next to Diana.

"But… of course, it doesn't have to be this way," The man speaks. "All you have to do, is _join_ me."

"Join you? Are you out of your mind?"

"No, Freddie Jules, I'm not _out_ of my mind… in fact I'm mainly _in_ yours."

He continues with his speech, "Think about it. Look what we have accomplished, we've decimated your forces and destroyed your precious city. In what? A matter of an hour?... Aren't you tired of the old system? Being told what to do, being forced to blindly follow orders?"

He says this whilst looking at Reyna.

"How about your dreams and desires being crushed because of what you can and can't do?"

He looks to some in the crowd.

"Always… second."

He looks at Malcolm, who turns away.

He then looks at Freddie, "Untrusted… because of who you are?"

Freddie shifts uncomfortably, unsure of how to act, but he doesn't move. Instead he looks at the man straight in the eye.

"I may be one of those things," he says, "but I'll _never_ join you."

Vern stood next to him, holding the same belief.

"I _will_ ," A voice says in the crowd.

It's followed by a helmet hitting the floor. Emerging from the crowd of Romans, was a girl. It was the same girl Jet introduced us to at the party… Amelia. She walks over to the man and kneels.

"I'll join you… I'm _tired_ of what I _can't_ do."

She glares back at Reyna, a glint of hatred in her eyes... but also sadness. Then she turns back and stands next to the man. That seemed to cause a chain reaction, half of the Romans started throwing down their weapons, standing with the enemy. Even the two twins of Aphrodite left, neither with regret in their eyes.

"You — you traitors!" Reyna cries, "I… I _trusted_ you all."

"Well, Reyna, you apparently don't know them well enough," he smiles, "So much for you… Twelfth Legion Fulminata."

The man looks back up at us, we were so few now, so little.

"Anybody else?"

Nobody responds. Then I hear gasping behind me and shifting through the group, followed by a:

" _NO_!"

I turn around and see that Malcolm, was making his way to the other side. He had to push through his friends that tried to stop him, he was determined. Before he leaves, I grab his arm.

"Malcolm… no. Don't do this."

He snatches his arm away from my hands and ignores my comment. He held his dagger tightly in his hand. But what was strange, is that right before he turns away… did he... nod?

"Ah… Malcolm Pace, as I expected."

Malcolm stands before the evil mastermind. Lycaon, watches him intensely.

"Malcolm, you son of a bitch!" Connor calls out but Malcolm ignores it.

"You're right," Malcolm says sternly, "I have always been second, Annabeth was _always_ first. _She_ always got the praise. _I_ got nothing."

"Malcolm… what are you doing!?" Percy pleads, but again, Malcolm ignores him.

"Even though, now I'm head counselor. People still think of her over me. And Jet… don't even get me started."

" _Exactly_ ," the man grins, "They don't care about you, and they never will. With _me_ , everyone has the power to be —"

"But," Malcolm suddenly cuts him off, "Annabeth… she's my sister, well _half-sister,_ she always looked out for me," Malcolm glances at Percy, "same with her _dumb_ boyfriend."

"And Jet? He may be an ass… but after his constant pranks and his somehow apparent intelligence, he's taught me _one_ thing…"

Lycaon was seriously look at him now.

" _Surprise_."

Malcolm, with his dagger in one hand, drives it into the man's chest. We all stare and gasp in shock at the sudden turn of events. But… wait, the man didn't collapse. We look closely and see that Lycaon, had managed to catch Malcolm's hand and he was now struggling to break free. Lycaon and another Lycanthrope was holding him down. Malcolm tries to break free from their grasp but it was no use. The man just stands over him.

The man sighs, "You know… you really got me there. I mean, you had me fooled."

He then takes the dagger from Malcolm's hand.

"With the whole build up of what you thought about Annabeth… and all your problems."

He takes a closer examination of the blade.

"Like _wow_ , you had me _hooked_ and if it wasn't for my wolf friend here, I would've _died_."

Malcolm just stares at him, unphased.

"You know," the man says, still looking at the dagger, "This is a _really_ nice blade. What do you think Charlotte? Worthy of your craftsmanship?"

He looks to the sniper cowgirl.

She smiles, "I think it can cut through flesh," she smiles, "like a hot knife through butter."

"Huh, let's test that shall we?"

Then… _oh gods_ … he — he then sticks the blade into Malcolm's chest, there wasn't even a scream. Lycaon let go and let the body drop to the floor. Malcolm's eyes were cold and still, blood was seeping through the wound where the dagger still stuck. We look in horror, paralysed with completely shock. He's…

" _You_ BASTARD!"

Percy tries to attack him but is just blown back by a fist of vines. It was hopeless, there was nothing we could do.

"Now, I believe that we're done here," the man continues, "anymore volunteers?"

None of us moved, though I don't think we could even if we wanted to.

"Great, now let's get back to the killing."

We weren't ready, we didn't even lift our weapons. The first Lycanthrope charged at us but suddenly immediately turned to dust, soon others started vanishing as well. Arrows start flying into the bodies of wolves. I look to Vern.

"I'm out," he gestures to the empty quiver.

The only response we get is something the Charlotte woman mutters:

" _Hunters_."


	29. Fires of Rome

_**Jet**_

I stand atop Temple Hill, watching the chaos unfold. I see near the Caldecott Tunnel, waves of Romans (and probably my friends) have gathered near the entrance, just before the river. The figures were so small and so far they looked like ants.

What. Is. _Happening._

The wolf that had urged me to follow him was now gone, no idea where he went but that doesn't matter. Right now Camp Jupiter was looking like a scene out of Lord of The Rings… a bad one. I should probably join up with everybody else. I take one last look at the Temples of the Gods and sigh. Now's not the time for crying. I need to know what the heck is going on.

I start walking back down the hill and towards the Caldecott Tunnel where everyone else was gathering. As I cross the bridge back onto the Camp Jupiter side of the Tiber, I notice the Argo III idly sitting in the wind.

"Petra and Killian oughta get in on this too," I tell myself.

I reach the Argo III and enter the behemoth sized ship, it really was massive. I walk through the corridors and the rooms once more, and again hearing the sound of clanging coming from the engine room. _There still here_. I walk to the sound of the noise and find myself in front of the door to the engine room. I swing it open, causing a loud bang that catches the two's attention.

" _Jesus_ , Jet. First you punch a hole in the wall — now you almost break the door!?" exclaims Petra.

"Yeah sorry about that, but now's not the time. We need to go, _now_ ," I tell them.

"Why? What's going on?"

"I don't know… everyone's gathering near the Tunnel."

Killian raises his eyebrow, "Probably something to do with that gunshot."

"You heard it too?"

He rolls his eyes, "Of course I did, it's a _gunshot_."

I decide not to argue, even _if_ it was possible that you could _not_ hear gunshot and also the fact that they're in a metal box, inside a huge ship, making lots of noise. Instead, I tell them the same thing as before:

"Let's go!"

"Take Kill with you, I'm almost done here, I'll finish up the rest," says Petra.

Killian groans, "Why do _I_ have to go, I can finish up the rest too."

"Sure you can..."

Before Killian could start complaining to Petra, I grab him by the collar and drag him with me, I wasn't going to sit around all day hearing these two squabble. I let go once I could no longer feel him struggle. He told me to wait for him to get his things and I reluctantly oblige. I wait for about 5 mins, until I see him walk down the hallway with his gear.

"Alright, I'm good," he says.

"Why do you need a fanny pa— you know what, nevermind let's just go."

Once outside of the Argo, we start heading towards the Caldecott Tunnel and already I hear another gunshot. The sound makes me and Killian jump. I hope no ones getting hurt, though I doubt that'll last. We were near the barracks as we hear an explosion set off, this time coming from behind. We look to see that smoke was coming from New Rome and a building was on fire. Then _another_ set of explosions blow off and soon enough, the whole city was in flames. This isn't good. This is bad… really — _really_ bad.

"Holy Hephaestus, what the heck is going on!?" screams Killian, over the sound of explosions.

"I've been wondering the same thing!"

I look back in the direction of the Caldecott Tunnel, then back to New Rome, then to the Tunnel, then New Rome. This cycle continues until:

"We're going to New Rome," I state firmly.

"What? I thought you said we needed to go the Tunnel."

" _I know_ , but back then, New Rome wasn't experiencing doomsday. People could be in danger."

"Yeah I know, but all our friends are at the tunnel."

"They'll be _fine_. They've got Diana, _no one_ can beat hear."

Killian thinks for a moment, "Fair enough… alright, let's go."

I nod and we both start running to the fires of Rome.

* * *

As we reach the entrance to the city, I see a statue barking orders. It was like your classic Roman statues you'd see in a museum; no hands or legs, just the torso and the head. As I get closer I could see writing on the stone he was fixed too: _"Terminus"_. Of course, this must be the Roman God of boundaries… yes, I know my mythology. I could hear him screaming loudly at Romans that were scrambling around. As soon as he saw us, he got even more mad.

"What _DO YOU_ want!" He yells.

"I just want to help," I say, "What happened anyways?"

He looks at me like I had just insulted him, " _WHAT HAPPENED!?_ You can _SEE_ what happened! The whole city is on fire!"

"Well how did that happen," Killian asks.

"Yeah," I add, "Aren't you supposed to stop anything like _that_ from happening?"

If statue's could turn red, Terminus would be as bright as a tomato, "Listen _boy_ , you don't tell me how to do my job and I don't tell you how to do yours."

"Look, just help us out here," I sigh, "Did anybody enter before the incident?"

It took him a while to register the question and I had to repeat it a couple of times. Probably because he couldn't hear me over the constant burning and yelling of Romans.

"Well, yes," he says, "one boy, Rex I think his name was — but he had no weapon, he was completely clean."

Rex? What's he doing here?

Terminus' attention gets caught by something to his right in which he then starts screaming out orders again.

"Did he say where he was headed?" I ask.

"I don't know!" Terminus yells, "I only ask things for safety reasons, not ask about their whole day!"

"Fine. We'll figure it out ourselves."

Me and Killian both start running into the city. We could hear Terminus screaming behind us about how we were running in with our weapons but he quickly forgot about it, considering he has more pressing matters to attend to.

We reach the city Forum and it looks even worse. The red of the roofs blended with the spreading of the fire, half of the buildings had collapsed and people were running for their lives. We could barely even see through the smoke and the smell was horrid. I see Killian reach into his fanny pack and grab out two pieces of cloth.

"Here," he says giving me the cloth, "Wrap it around your face, it'll protect you from the smoke."

I do as he says and wrap the cloth around my mouth and nose. He was right when he said it'll protect me from the smoke. The coughing stopped and my throat started to feel better, but the smell was still there.

"We should split up, find the culprit and hopefully stop all of this."

"Wait, what are we looking for?" Killian asks.

"Rex. Curly long hair and purple shirt. He should stand out as younger than most of the people here," I reply.

"Anything else?"

"Yeah… if you can, try and help the civilians."

* * *

We both spread ourselves out in the Forum, searching for Rex and helping people along the way. I assisted people with directions back to where Terminus was and also helped lift up some debris that was on top of someone. It was a mess.

Rex was nowhere to be seen, I keep looking and looking but there was no sign of him. The smoke didn't help either. I tried looking for Killian but he was gone too.

" _Jet!_ " I hear someone call out.

The voice calls out again and I realise it was Killian on the other side of the Forum.

"Over here!" he says, "I found something!"

I run over to him, jumping over fallen debris and trying not to get smoke in my eyes. I had to dodge a couple of fire patches as well. Once I met up with Killian he immediately started leading me somewhere.

"Where's your fanny pack?" I ask noticing it was missing.

"I… lost it."

 _Weird_ , nobody just _loses_ a fanny pack, especially when it's strapped to your waist. But, I continue following him inside one of the buildings in the forum. It seemed like the only one that wasn't completely destroyed. Once inside, Killian takes off his mask and so do I. The air seemed cleaner in hear, but still _really_ bad. The room was fairly empty, like most of the furniture had been moved to the side. It was the same deal with the other buildings, the walls and floors were marble, though no longer white.

"Look what I found," Killian says and points to something in the middle of the room. It was some sort of box with some weird machinery on it. A red light was flashing and wires connected it to the other side of the box.

"What is it?" I ask.

"I don't know," he says.

"Well your the son of Hephaestus, figure it out!"

"Just because I'm the son of the blacksmith God, _doesn't_ make me an expert on everything related to wires!"

I sigh, "Whatever, just figure it out. I'll go and find Rex."

"Wait, _you_ should figure it out."

"What? Why me?" I ask, "You have better chance at solving it. Son of Hephaestus, remember?"

"Yes, but you're a son of Athena. They're pretty dang smart too. Plus, I just usually just made things… my brother knew how things worked."

I was in the middle of walking out until that makes me stop. I turn around and look at him weirdly.

"Your brother? Don't you mean your sister?"

"Oh, uh… right, right. Sorry this smoke is messing with my head."

"It ain't messing with me," I say, very confused.

Something's not right here.

"Whatever, Jedediah, just go."

OK. _Now_ , it's getting really weird. First of all, nobody calls me that and I don't even think Killian should know that.

"Uh… ok," I reply, very hesitantly. This... this isn't Killian.

I start walking back outside, as if going along with Killian's order. I look to my left and see a wooden pole leaning on the wall. Just as I walk past it, I grip it in my hands and turn around, throwing it at Killian. To my surprise, Killian moves to the side and catches, proceeding to then snap it in two with his knee. Killian just sighs and something even weirder happens. He starts… to change.

His facial features start shifting, turning from his usual blacksmithy-oiled-covered look into a skinnier, blue-eyed, blonde-haired man with a beard. He would be a perfect Hemsworth, like their long lost brother or something. His clothes changed too, instead of a Camp Half-Blood shirt and overalls, he wore a buttoned up black shirt with long sleeves that were rolled up to his elbows. The man just smiles.

"Was it something I said?" He asks, in a different voice now. It was more smooth and manly.

"Who the hell are you?"

"I'm… everyone."

This is probably the guy that started all this, not Rex. I mean, he probably just made himself look like Rex.

All of a sudden he starts shapeshifting again, his hair became brown and messy and his eyes turned grey. His face turned younger in age and his clothes turned into a leather jacket and jeans — he was me.

"I know this is supposed to be a really trippy moment right now," I say, "but _damn_ I look good."

"I get that a lot."

Oh _gods_ , he even sounded like me. I'm kind of amazed, actually.

"That's pretty coo—"

I get caught off guard when I see a wooden stick being thrown right at my face. I manage to duck in time thanks to my demigod reflexes. When I look back at the man — Jet — me — myself — he starts charging towards me with two daggers, one in each hand. I activate my cestus gloves and get ready for a fight.

He brings both daggers down on me but I manage to sidestep to the left, causing him to miss. I then punch him right across the face, leaving a mark, but for the most part, the guy seemed completely fine. I swing again at his head but he ducks and kicks me in the chest, causing me to get knocked back into a table. He tries to stab at me again but I roll out of the way, getting one of his daggers stuck on the table. He tries to budge it out but I tackle him to the wall making him gutter in pain.

I try to punch him in the face again with my right hand but he stops it with his left, then twisting my wrist. I yell in pain causing me to lose my grip on him. He then stabs me on my left shoulder. The strike sends a shock through my whole body. That hurt more than it should've. The evil Jet then knees me in the stomach, the dagger still in my shoulder. The hit knocks the wind out of me and I lie on the ground, wheezing in pain.

"Oof," he says, laughing, "That was a pretty nasty hit."

He pulls the dagger out of my body with zero care, which shocks my whole body.

"And look... here's another one."

I feel his foot collide with my face, almost completely knocking me out. My head started spinning, feeling delirious. All I could hear was the faint whistling of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" as evil Jet toys with me.

" _Real_ valiant effort, what you're trying to do," he continues saying, "Helping the people of New Rome… trying to stop us."

 _Us?_

"...but you can't. Still, a valiant effort."

I clench my fists, my body starts to move again. My senses were coming back, and I was mad.

"I would even go as far as to calling you a —"

He gets interrupted as he falls on the ground after I swept his leg. He doesn't get up immediately for he is still surprised by what just happened. I seize the moment to jump on him whilst he is still down, mounting him and locking his arms down so he couldn't move. I activate the spikes on my Cestus, fully aware of what I intend to do next. I position my fist, ready to strike. The man looks at me in shock — or I see me look at me in shock… it's confusing.

"Jet? — Or... Jets?"

I look to my left and see that Killian stood there, wrench in hand and in utter confusion. This causes me to loosen my grip in which the evil Jet escapes from my grasp. We both stand up, side-by-side and look at Killian.

"It's him!" the evil Jet says, pointing at me, "He's an imposter!"

I moan, "Oh… we are so not doing this."

Killian scratches his head, "Please don't do this to me gods."

The other me speaks up again, "Then don't, the choice is easy, fight him!"

"Hold on, just a minute. It is _not_ me!"

Killian looks at me, "Oh yeah? Prove it."

"Seriously man? Okay, um… ask me a question."

 _Yikes_ , that's really cliche.

Killian thinks, "Okay… what's my sisters name?"

"Really?" I ask, "out of all the question you ask —"

"Petra!" the other me shouts out.

Killian looks back at me, "you're on thin ice buddy."

You have _got_ to be kidding me.

"Okay, um… look!" I point at the owl symbol on my jacket, "See this? This was burned into my jacket when I got claimed. Look at his jacket," I point at the other me, "it doesn't have it."

"Are you serious? You're just making that up!" the evil Jet says.

"He's right," Killian says, gripping his wrench, "I wasn't actually there when you were claimed."

"Oh, come on!"

"One more chance, buddy."

Okay, Jet _think_. How can I convince my _stupid_ friend that I'm the real Jet. It's gotta be something concrete… something real… something that can't be… remade… _that's it_.

"See these?" I lift up my Cestuses, "you made them for me, you gave these to _me_ and you only made one pair."

I start showing the different settings, from normal gloves — to normal cestus — to spiked cestus — then to shield — then back to the normal gloves.

Killian looks at the other me now, "He's right. I only made one pair."

I could see the panic in the man's eyes, "He's wrong! That's just a copy. Look, I have the same gloves!" He holds up his hands and… it has the same exact gloves as I'm wearing. Black, leather and fingerless gloves.

"Activate them," Killian says.

"What?"

"If there the same gloves, turn them into Cestuses, _now_."

He starts looking at both of us, hesitating, he knows he can't switch them into Cestuses. He can copy clothes but not weapons or complex mechanisms. Killian and I start moving in on him. In reaction to that, evil me pulls out something from his pocket and slams it on the ground. A big bang flashes in my eyes, blinding my vision for a few seconds. By the time my vision refocuses, the other Jet is gone.

I look around me to see that the man was no longer Jet but back to his normal self. He stood all the way at the exit door, ready to leave.

"Well, it was fun playing that little game with you boys," he says holding something in his hand, "but I think it's time we end our little masquerade."

"What are you doing?" Killian shouts out, still rubbing his eyes.

"You want to know what that little box in the room does, don't you?"

We both turn to the box that was about 5 feet behind us, still flashing red.

"Well allow me to demonstrate."

He hovers his finger over some sort of red button on the thing he was holding, which I now realise is a detonator. This isn't good. My body suddenly kicks into action, completely rejecting all reasoning, ignoring the pain in my stomach and the pain in my bleeding left shoulder. I push Killian forward as far as I can from the bomb, knocking him behind a table. While I activate my shield, knowing good and well that this could be it. I turn behind me, shield in front and face the fiery explosion that awaits me.

Everything goes black…

* * *

"Jet!... Jet!... Jet!" I hear a very muffled voice call, "Get up!"

My eyes open, extremely blurry from all the smoke in my eyes. The ringing in my ears was the most dominant sound I could hear. I see a face in front of me but I couldn't see who it was. I was coughing but I couldn't even feel it.

"Jet! Come on, Petra's here!"

Petra? Why is she here? What about Killian… Killian… Killian. My vision starts to clear and the memories start flashing back: The shapeshifting man, the explosion.

I could finally see the face in front of me as well, it was Killian. His face was covered in all the ash and his hair was charred. Then my sense of feeling came back, though I wish it didn't. The pain surges through my whole body, like I had just been stomped on by a minotuar 60 times. I didn't notice at first but Killian was actually slapping me on the cheek continuously in which I told him to stop. The pain in my shoulder came back and it was _unbearable,_ I couldn't move my left arm.

I struggled to get up and I had to limp on one leg but Killian lended a hand. My whole body felt like it was on fire and my head felt like it was currently being dipped into a pool of boiling oil. I look down at my clothes and realise half of one leg of my pants had been completely burned off and the left sleeve of my leather jacket was completely ripped off, exposing the wound on my shoulder even more. Well that's $250 dollars down the drain.

I look at my surroundings and see that we're outside, the sky above us, filled with smoke. The people still running and screaming, some trying to extinguish the fires.

"Weren't… weren't we in a building?" I struggle to ask.

"We still are," Killian grimaces.

I suddenly realise that we were in the building… or what's left of it. The rubble we stood on was all that remained of the building, the whole structure was completely destroyed.

"How — how — how the _hell_ did we survive that?" I manage to speak.

"I don't know," Killian replies, "but I wouldn't have made it without you, so thanks."

I try to chuckle but it just causes my body more pain so it sounded more like a cough, "don't mention it."

I honestly didn't know why I did it, but I did.

All of a sudden a small platform appears out of nowhere, completely materialising right in front of me. I then look up, which was also painful to do by the way, to see the Argo III hovering above us. The platform was connected by some sort of pulley system to the ship. I could see Petra's little figure on the deck. Nobody else seemed to notice the giant ship in the sky, probably because they were busy worrying about their lives.

"Do you expect me to get on this thing?"

Killian just rolls his eyes, "It's fine, it'll pull us up."

I reluctantly get on the platform with Killian, still leaning on his shoulder. Just like he said, the platform pulls us up and levels with the deck where Petra waited anxiously. Once we stepped onto the deck, Petra ran straight for us and brought us into a tight group hug.

In response I wince in pain.

"Oh, oh sorry," Petra apologises but I wave the gesture away telling her it's fine.

"So you got the ship up and running?" asks Killian.

"Yep… and we need to get to the Tunnel, like right now."

"Why what's happening?"

Petra hesitates, "I — I don't know, I saw a glimpse of the battle and it's _not_ looking good. We need to get them out of there."

"No!" I manage to say, "We still, gotta — gotta — help these people."

"Are you kidding me?" Killian says, "your half-dead."

"No, I'm half- _blood_ and I'm fine, come on, they need us. Just pick some up with the ship."

"They'll be _fine_ Jet, Terminus will evacuate them safely."

I ignore their comments. I _have_ to help, I'm not screwing up this time. I try to move without Killian's support but that just leads me to collapse on the floor. The pain stuns me and I pass out.

* * *

 _ **I hope you guys liked this part and I hope I did the drama of it correctly.**_

 _ **I sometimes worry that my drama isn't good enough or it's needs more time.**_

 _ **Also, I hope you liked the action in the previous chapter and yes... it was very intense. What did you guys think of the new enemies? Are they intimidating? Can you guess any of their godly parents? ... or pasts? They are all OC demigods as well, just older.**_

 _ **Also, please tell me if theres anything I need to improve on.**_

 _ **Give me some of your feedback in the reviews! and thanks in advance :).**_


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